Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs
by Xenogears
Summary: About a year after the events of The Serpahs, the gang tries to settle down to a normal life. But, little do they know, they still have a forgotten enemy to deal with.This enemy wants revenge, no matter what the cost. (Chapter eight and epilouge added)
1. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Prologue

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi, and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright of me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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__

There was once a city __by the name of Bhrams, in the state of Oregon. It was a normal, everyday type of city. Not too large, not too small. But all of this changed when the international drug corporation Umbrella came to town. They secretly set up their own lab in the Cascade Mountains, hoping that no one would find them.

They were wrong.

Two of Umbrella's most wanted, Chris and Claire Redfield, hired a hacker and managed to get into Umbrella's systems, finding out the location of the labs.

Around the same time, one of the eight survivors from Raccoon City, Leon S. Kennedy, was approached with a proposal: join us or Sherry dies. (Sherry was also one of the survivors from Raccoon.) Leon was forced to accept the offer, and was shipped off to Bhrams to recover information about a new experimental virus. There he met his Umbrella contact, Vincent Johnson, and once again met up with Claire Redfield (who had helped him escape Raccoon).

By this time, a citizen of the city, Ryan Davidson, was also being hunted by Umbrella. He managed to find the whereabouts of the Redfields, and joined them in their mission to destroy Umbrella.

Over the course of a few days, Claire and Leon ended up in a relationship, which made it harder for Leon to complete his mission. When the time finally came for Leon to reveal his true reasons for being there, he ended up betraying Umbrella so his friends could escape. Just before they were about to leave, they were attacked by the ultimate form of the new virus, named Silver Blood. Leon came just in time to save them, but he refused to leave the city. Claire was dragged off by her brother, and they left the labs. In a moment of realization, Leon decided that it was time to escape before he was caught up in the self-destruction sequence. Using a cargo helicopter, he escaped the labs, and picked up his friends just as the city went up in a giant fireball.

Eight months later, the crew arrived in the Alaskan town of Carlton in an attempt to hide from Umbrella. The feeling that they had finally found a place that Umbrella hadn't touched evaporated when their vehicle was destroyed by an unknown source. 

It was the next day that Ryan Davidson met one of the only inhabitants of the city, Anna Yamaguchi. Ryan connected with her quite well, and grew to trust her after just a few days. 

That started to change when, in a trip to the Umbrella labs that Anna had told them about, Ryan found a list documenting viable test subjects for a certain new virus. The subjects were from the Umbrella black list and various other sources. What surprised them all was that Anna was on the list. Even more suspicious, the list had said that she had been 'tested.' On what, no one knew. The following day, Ryan went off to Anna's house to check up on her. After she told him that her friend Mark had gone missing in the labs, he agreed to go with her to look for him. 

Ryan's suspicions were proven when Anna betrayed him and brought him to Dr. Vickers, a mad ex-Umbrella scientist bent on purifying the human race with a new series of viruses he had developed. These viruses would turn the subject into a being known as a Seraph. The Seraph was a supposed B.O.W. that had the appearance and thinking abilities of a human, and the powers of a supernatural being, but could still be kept under control if the mind were bent well enough. Apparently, Mark and Anna had had the procedure done on them, and shared Dr. Vickers's opinion of purifying the human race. The virus would only work on those with an O- or OB- blood type and anyone else who came into contact with it would die a painful death.

Ryan was infused with the AE²-virus, a virus that made him a Seraph with power over electricity.

Even after having the procedure done to him, he hoped he could escape. When he tried, he was stopped by Anna. As it turned out, she had a change of heart. She concurred with him to escape from Dr. Vickers.

Around this time, Umbrella had dropped several T-103s over Carlton, forcing the original team to fend off one, and Anna and Ryan to deal with another. Ryan got firsthand experience with his Seraph abilities, and managed to kill the T-103. Leon, Claire, Chris, and Sherry, who were very worried about him at this point, went to look for him, and found him just as he was about to leave Anna's house. They all walked back to the hotel where they were staying, and launched a final assault on the Carlton labs.

Though they weren't able to reach Dr. Vickers, they did manage to find Mark who still blindly followed Dr. Vickers. There was a fist fight between Ryan and Mark. The battle teetered back and forth, and finally Ryan was sent to the floor. Mark was about to finish him off when Anna sent a stream of acid at Mark, saving Ryan's life and allowing him another chance at Mark. With a flurry of electrically charged punches, Ryan defeated Mark.

It was at the last moment that Mark realized the foolishness of his actions, and asked Ryan to finish him off with his gun. Though Ryan hesitated, he eventually sent a bullet to Mark's brain, ending his pain.

They all soon escaped in a helicopter and left Carlton behind.

__

Now it's one year and one month later, and the crew lives in the northern Chicago suburb of Skokie. Little do they know, they still have an old enemy to deal with who hasn't forgotten them at all, and who is bent on revenge...

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Sherry waited impatiently in her seat for the final bell. She couldn't stand one more minute of Social Studies, and wished that she didn't have to take the class as a mandatory. Much like Ryan felt about Chemistry.

Finally, there was a low buzz, signaling the end of the day. She accepted the homework assignment from the teacher and then left the classroom. Her locker was conveniently right outside her Social Studies class, so she could gather her things quickly and get out the door. Anna and Ryan, however, had to cross from one side of the large Niles West High School--which was built to accommodate about 3,500 students and was in the process of getting additions to increase its capacity--to the other, just to get to their locker at the end of the day. Sherry was quite glad that she didn't have to walk as far as the new math and science wing and back every single day.

She went to wait at the Oakton break lobby where students could relax in between periods if they had short classes. She usually met Anna and Ryan here every day after the last period, and got a ride home with either Ryan or Anna, who had both gotten cars for their 16th birthday.

Sherry had her growth spurt later than usual in her teen years, but when she did, Claire described it as, "You could watch her grow in front of you."

She was now just 15 in her freshman year, and standing at about five foot six, she still had a few years left to grow. She had long discarded her schoolgirl outfit, and had gotten in touch with modern times, now wearing the usual for High School students: Black short-sleeved female shirt and baggy jeans. She was also done with letting her hair grow long, and had once again cut it short. Her voice had grown more womanly, which was a relief to her as she didn't like sounding like a child. 

After waiting for a few minutes, she saw Ryan and Anna walking down to the lobby, looking at each other but not speaking. They had explained this as a "mental link," a form of telepathic communication only between them. She still couldn't believe that she was friends with two people who were basically Umbrella B.O.W.'s. And it still struck her how they had been able to hide that secret from everyone but those at home. She had seen them use their powers before in practical jokes, like Ryan using his electrical powers to turn off projectors and lights while in class, Anna using her water powers to make water faucets miraculously turn on and off, or causing chemicals in Chemistry to do certain things like spilling out of the glass or evaporating. Once she even caused a small explosion, but she was careful that no one was hurt, and the property damage was limited to a couple of glass flasks.

Ryan and Anna both were in their junior year, and they already looked like they were ready to face college.

Ryan had grown to six-foot one, the tallest person in their household. Despite his stature, he was still a very easygoing person to the others. He still wore his gray zippered, hooded sweatshirt, even in the house, and had stopped wearing his bandanna (in school anyway), much to his displeasure, revealing his scar, as it was against school policies. His voice had deepened a little, making him seem more mature. His ponytail had stopped growing at his waist and no one in school had made fun of him because of it. 

Anna had grown to five feet eight, not much taller than Sherry. She now wore small wire-framed farsighted glasses, her same gold chain around her neck, and had not done much of anything to her original attire. Her favorite colors seemed to change with every passing season and since this was winter, she chose white for her long-sleeved female shirt which showed off her midsection, and a dark blue for her tight blue jeans. Her long jet-black hair was cut just a little, stopping at her thighs, and she had the streak of hair closest to the right front of her face highlighted in red. She was also captain of the school swimming team (in no small part due to her Seraph abilities), and a seasoned practitioner of Yoga.

"_Konnichi wa, _Sherry-chan," Anna greeted.

Anna had taken it on herself to teach both Ryan and Sherry Japanese, along with their school classes, and so far it had been going very well. 

Sherry paused, trying to remember the words.

"Uh..._Hai,_" Sherry responded carefully, recalling the words."_Konnichi wa, Anna-san_,"

__

"Pretty good," Anna complimented. "You still could work on the accent, but other than that, you're doing well."

"Thanks."

"So," Ryan asked. "How did your day go?"

"Ugh...besides a pop quiz in just about everything? Good."

"Ouch. School sucks, huh?"

"Yeah, especially if your teacher in your worst subject seems to just loathe you."

"It'll pass. Just wait until you start going to parties. That's when you'll start having a good time."

They had walked out to the student parking lot, bundling up for the January weather, which has a tendency to be nasty in the Chicago area. This day it wasn't too bad, but you still had to keep yourself warm. 

Sherry loved snow. And the whole town was covered with it. She liked the beauty of it, and just because it was plain fun made her want it to snow forever. All the adults had a second opinion on that. Even Anna and Ryan simply said, "Just wait until you start driving."

Ryan pulled his old bandanna from his pocket, tied it around his head, jammed the keys into the ignition, and started the car without letting the engine warm up. Sending the four-door blue Toyota Tercel into a hard reverse, he sped out of the parking lot like a mad man, students weaving out of the way. Within seconds Ryan hit the open road.

"Jesus, Ryan! You're going to get us killed!" Anna protested from the passenger's seat. "Next time, _I _drive!"

"Fine, but that ain't today!" Ryan responded buoyantly. "For now, _I'm _the wheel man!"

Ryan swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle. He switched lanes, and went in the opposite direction. He passed over a bridge that went over the I-94, and kept going. He only waited for the last second before a collision to take the correct lane again.

"Yeeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaa------!" Ryan cheered. 

"_Ryan no baka! _You could have killed us back there!" Anna shouted.

"Live a little, _neh_?"

"I don't know what you call living, but I don't want to be a part of it!"

Ryan thought of a remark to throw back at her, but the sounds of police sirens stopped him. Sherry and Anna gave him a look that said, "I told you so," and Ryan slumped his shoulders in defeat. He slowed down and pulled over to the curb and waited for the officer to give him his ticket. He prayed it wasn't officer Paul Yarris: He had gotten to know him quite well due to little "mishaps" like this. 

When Ryan opened his window and saw officer Yarris with a big smile on his face, all he could manage was, "_Kuso_..."

This time, I would want to save my thanks for the last chapter, so don't be surprised to see this space empty.

__

Konnichi wa/Good day.

[Insert name and title], no baka! ([insert name and title] NO-ba-ka)/ [Insert name and title], you idiot!

Kuso(KU-soe)/Damn it

Draft: 5/15/01

Final: 9/17/01 (2:15PM)

__

Ja ne!


	2. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter one

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi, and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright of me, and may not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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Claire Redfield read the speeding ticket over, then crumpled it in her hand, her knuckles going white. She leered at Ryan, who was trying to hide his face. A $200 fine, plus another $500 for reckless driving. On top of that, he had to be down at 26th and California, the Cook County Courthouse, for a hearing one week from the current date. It seemed like the millionth time that something like this had happened, and today was her day off from the hospital where she was getting on-the-job training. She wasn't going to put up with it any longer.

"Ryan Davidson!" she nearly screamed. "How can you explain this?!"

"Uh...driving while being a white teenager?"

That was it for Claire. Giving him a look of rage, she screamed, "NO! Just plain reckless driving on your behalf! Not only that, but you had a passenger with you! Do you understand the seriousness of this?!"

"Yes ma'm..." Ryan grumbled.

"What was that?!"

"Ma'm! Yes ma'm!" Ryan addressed her like a drill sergeant.

Claire could feel a vein bulging in her forehead. He was mocking her.

"That's it! Give me your keys! And the license!"

Ryan dug through his pockets for a moment, then came out with a set of keys and his wallet. He took out his license, tossed it and the keys to her, and Claire caught them. But then she _threw_ them back at him.

"Hand them to me," she said sternly.

Ryan did as he was told, and mumbled something in Japanese.

"Better. I hereby suspend your driving privileges until further notice."

Claire and Leon had attained the title of guardianship over the three juveniles in the house over the course of the past year and a half. Sherry and Ryan had been the easiest to obtain; Ryan's parents had agreed to a temporary guardianship without too much hassle, and Sherry had no relatives that were available to take care of her. Anna had been a little different. It had taken them a whole month of negotiations with her parents to get them to agree, much to Ryan's relief.

Ryan stormed upstairs, intent on getting to his room. He would be back downstairs for homework in about half an hour, Claire supposed.

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Chris Redfield sat at a desk in his precinct, filling out a crime report. He was never good at these kinds of things; he had let Jill and Barry do most of the paperwork when he was still a member of S.T.A.R.S--he had gotten away with being able to write a paragraph or two, sign his name, and nothing more.

Now he had no choice but to fill out the whole report on his own. Leon had gotten the last one, and now it was Chris's turn. He had suddenly wished that he had taken the last report, so Leon could do this one. It was very tiring.

Apparently, the suspect had been found near the site of a robbery. He had run when told by police to stop, and when he was caught with the money and was asked where he got it, he claimed that he had found it in the garbage. Leon and Chris had gotten a laugh out of that. It turned out he was a suspect in various unsolved crimes, most of them under Chris's watch. So Chris had had to go look for all the evidence and reports. As it turned out, a few had been missing, so Chris had to rewrite them, one by memory. He looked over to Leon, who was giving him a smug look. Chris flipped him off, and returned to his work.

This was definitely not his day.

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As Leon scanned the noisy, slightly crowded main floor of the precinct, his gaze fell on Chris, filling out his paperwork. Leon was glad that he had taken the last report, because this one looked like hell. Or maybe it was only because most of the data on the case was under Chris's jurisdiction, thus leading to a poorly organized case (in terms of paperwork), and several files getting lost.

He shot a smug look at Chris, who returned his gesture with a middle finger. Leon laughed.

He looked down at his gold engagement ring. He had proposed two months ago to Claire, on the night of the three-year anniversary of their first meeting -- which Claire insisted was the night that they had both ventured into Raccoon City. She had instantly accepted. The announcement to the others didn't surprise them, but they were all happy, and even Chris seemed to be cheerful. They had set the date for the wedding for eight months from now, aiming for September 24. Leon still could hardly believe that he wasn't going to be a bachelor anymore, and he would have to get used to it soon, he told himself.

Leon smiled to himself at his good fortune, and prepared to clock out, leaving Chris to his misfortune of loads of paperwork.

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As Ryan walked into the backyard to take out the trash, he spotted Anna sitting on the back lawn wearing a loose-fitting body suit and practicing Yoga; she was faced toward the setting sun, her back to him. She was twisted up in a position that looked severely painful, but she still looked quite calm.

Ryan stood there, gawking at her. He had found that he was doing this more and more often lately, and he found that he couldn't stop himself. He had to admit: she was incredibly attractive to him. But she was still just a close friend. He would like to change that, but he knew it would be hard to bring himself to it.

"What's up, garbage boy?" Anna said jokingly.

Ryan was startled. At first she hadn't noticed him. Or was she just pretending that she didn't?

"Uh...As my name implies, I'm just taking out the garbage..."

"Okay."

Ryan couldn't help gazing at her for a few more moments before he went to the garbage container. The way that she was so flexible was just so mesmerizing to him. She could easily twist herself into a pretzel, and stay like that for prolonged periods of time, while Ryan could barely touch his toes. When he came back, Anna was in a new position, even more painful looking than before.

"Ouch...for the love of God, I don't know how you manage to do that without disfiguring yourself for life," Ryan said.

"It just takes practice. You should try it sometime. I'll give you lessons."

Ryan grinned and gave a small chuckle.

"Uh..._iye ke godesu_. I'd rather just stick with martial arts like Kendo, thank you very much."

"Whatever you say..."

Ryan was about to enter the house when an idea came to him. Making sure no one else was around, he formed a ball of electricity in his hand, then mentally shaped it into an electric Katana crafted in ceremonial Tokugawa Shogunate style. A glowing purple light surrounded the weapon, and when he swung it, it made a hissing sound mixed with a crackle of electricity.

This caught Anna's attention, and she gave a whistle of approval. 

"Very nice," she complimented. "Since when did you learn how to do that?"

"Last week. I've been trying it for the past few months, and I just recently got down the perfection in the blade. I got the model from one of my books."

"Nice, but watch this."

Anna then got up out of her position, formed an ice crystal in her hand, and then mentally shaped it into a classic Yari spear of the Japanese Warring States Period. The only thing that made it look abnormal was the cool blue vapor rising from its blade.

This time it was Ryan's turn to give an impressed whistle. He swung his sword, and with a spark, it vanished into thin air. Smiling, he clapped his hands in approval.

"And how long have you known that?" Ryan asked.

"Ever since a little while after Carlton."

"You never showed me."

"The need didn't arise," Anna said. "You know...I was told that a Seraph could materialize only one weapon, and that would be the one that you would use for the rest of your life."

"Well let's see, I have a Katana, you have a Yari, and Mark..."

Ryan stopped in mid-sentence as he saw Anna's disconsolate reaction. 

'_Baka, baka, baka! _You should know better than to talk about Mark in front of her!' Ryan thought in the back of his mind.

"Sorry..." he said.

"Ryan, I know that it happened over a year ago, but...it's still a delicate nerve for me."

"Like I said, Anna, sorry..."

Ryan then remembered what happened after the events of Carlton. Anna had locked herself in her room for over a month, only coming out for food and school. Only when he walked into her room one night and sat down and had a long, emotional talk with her did she start to return to normal.

__

Every person handles grief in different ways, Chris had told him. _This happens to be hers._

'I wonder if she would have cried for me if I died instead of Mark,' Ryan thought. 'Or even if I were to die soon, would she shed tears for me?' 

Anna made her spear melt into water and then fall to the ground, evaporating, and returned to her Yoga. Ryan wished her a good day, and went back inside.

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Ryan and Anna sat over their 'Japanese as a Second Language' homework, while they both were eating a rice cake and a small bag of chocolate frosting covered Pocky, and Ryan was drinking green tea made from Chinese spring tea leaves, delicious when made right--which it was.

Anna had given him the suggestion that it would be better to immerse himself in the culture as much as he could to help better his understanding of the language. So far, he was slowly adjusting to the Japanese diet; he had mastered the use of chopsticks, and was just used to tuna sashimi, but couldn't stand anything else that was fish, unless it was sushi.

He stared over the papers he was working with for a few more moments, then looked over at Anna. She seemed to be having no trouble with her work. She was busy scribbling at her paper while looking over her textbook, and drinking 2% milk from a black coffee mug that read_, "BEWARE: I'm armed and have premenstrual tension._" Something that Ryan considered funny, because judging from her behavior and his calendar, she had just gone though her 'monthly friend' six days ago. Much to Ryan's relief, because she could prove temperamental at those times. Ryan called it an "Extreme MS disorder." He remembered one day where she came in the house from school screaming about the smallest things. No one, not even Claire, dared to bother her.

Ryan looked at his work so far. Three filled lines compared to Anna's almost three full paragraphs. Ryan had mastered Hiragana, including the Daku-on's, Hondaku-on's, and Yoon-on's, and knew most of the Katakanas, but he barely knew thirty Kanji characters and was having a very difficult time with it. He only knew the meanings of fifteen of the characters. The other half he knew how to write but didn't know their meanings or how to say them. His eyes were getting quite tired of looking though the English-Kanji dictionary that was opened in front of him. Obviously, his strong point in Japanese was the spoken, not the written, part of the language.

With a heavy sigh of frustration, he slammed his pencil into the kitchen table, successfully snapping off the point. Anna looked up suddenly from her work.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, ready to pull out his hair. "I...I just don't get it! Why did the Japanese have to take such a complex written language like Chinese, and incorporate it into not only their language, but their everyday life?! It pisses me _off_!"

Anna only looked at him and spoke calmly, ignoring his outburst.

"Easy. They just needed a larger syllabry. They turned to the Chinese for that."

"Yeah, but couldn't they have simplified it, or at least not taken almost 2,000 characters?!"

"If my history serves me correctly, the Japanese actually took the whole language--that's more than 50,000 characters--into their own language. Until then, I think, they didn't have a written language. It wasn't until the early 1940s, I believe, that they cut it down to about give or take 7,500 and started using the Hiragana and Katakana, which were said to be derived from Chinese, more often."

Ryan banged his head on the table. "Ugh."

"Hey. It's not that bad. You only need about 1,000 to get through everyday life."

"What do you mean, 'not that bad'?! You already know basically over half the Kanji charts, and you're at the advanced level in our class, while I'm stuck between the beginners and intermediates!"

  
"I've been studying Japanese and English since I was old enough to speak. Japanese is an orderly language with simple rules and few exceptions. English is just the opposite of that. In short, compared to English in many ways, Japanese is child's play."

"Sure, if you're raised in the culture!"

"Whatever."

Ryan sighed in defeat. When she said that, it was no use going any further with her.

He reached into his hooded sweatshirt pocket for a cigarette, and when he placed it to his lips, he found the tobacco part of it missing, and he looked over at Anna who held it in her hand.

"You've already had one today. That's the limit," she said.

Ryan simply ignored her, and reached for another. Anna snatched it from his lips, and threw it in the trash can along with the other part of the first cigarette. Anna had taken great pride in her efforts to cut down Ryan's habit. Over the course of one year, she had managed to help him cut down to five a week, one a day, none on weekends.

"Hey," he protested. "Claire said that she would get me some nicotine patches tomorrow. Can you just let me enjoy what will probably be my last cigarette?"

"No, Ryan," Anna said in a stern tone. "Learn to resist things like this."

Ryan again sighed in defeat, cursing at his own stupidity.

'Eh, nothing to be worried about,' he thought. 'I'll grab one outside later.'

"No, you won't," Anna said, not even looking up from her work. Ryan had let that thought escape the confines of his mind, so Anna picked up on it. "Do it and you'll be more than sorry."

Ryan sank deeper into his chair, and returned to his work. He scanned his mind for the 'ni', 'hon', and 'go' Kanji characters, and jotted them down, completing his third line.

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"Ha! You can't beat me!" Ryan said as he hammered down on his controller.

"What?! You ain't that good!" Anna shot back.

"I've beaten you three times already with Jehuty! There's no way that your Neith can destroy me!"

  
"Yeah?! Well I've beaten you three times already with Neith!"

  
"But you're about to lose again!"

Ryan and Anna were playing '_Zone of the Enders_™', and were competing in versus mode.

"This is about honor! I will not lose!" Anna said.

Ryan released a burst slash on Anna, then blocked as she came in with a melee attack. Ryan blocked, retreated, shot off a few long-range energy shots, and blocked again as Anna came in with another melee attack. He countered with a grab-and-throw into a building, ending the bout.

"Yeah! Victory! Da da da da di dum di duh dum!" Ryan exclaimed.

Anna rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust as Ryan began to sing "We are the Titans."

They were both equally matched in action games, but her specialty was sports games, while Ryan's were RPG's. Ryan knew that if he were to challenge her again, she would beat him horribly. To avoid defeat, he pointed his index finger at the game system, and when it went to standby mode, he clicked the I/O switch.

Ryan was about to ask Anna a question that had been bothering him for days, when Claire walked into the living room. She went over to the bookshelf right next to them, looking for one of her many medical textbooks.

'Damn...' he thought. 'I might as well tell her through a mental link. Get some privacy that way...'

Her voice had gotten much clearer since Carlton; he figured it was due to his own greater experience in mental linking. And the fact that they were very good friends now.

'Anna?'

'_Yeah?_'

'Uhhh...I don't really know how to ask you this...'

'_Just say it bluntly._'

Ryan gulped hard. Here it goes...

'Uh, okay...umm...uhh...Anna? Willyougooutwithme?'

Anna took a moment to fill in the spaces, and when she did, she looked at Ryan peculiarly, one of her eyebrows raised.

'_Is this some sort of joke?'_

Ryan could feel a cold sweat forming on his brow. Damn, this didn't look good. If she didn't accept, he would be quite embarrassed and lose a lot of face for a very long time. If she accepted...what if she did?

__

'No...'

Anna's look grew stranger.

'_Why would you ask me such a question?_'

'Why? Uhhhmmm...because you're good looking, smart, and strong willed...'

Please don't make me have to explain it even further...I don't want to say something good that will ruin all of this...

'_You've gotten over what I did to you in Carlton_?'

__

'Yes! Of course! I've gotten over that long ago.'

'_This...this is unexpected, Ryan. I don't know what to say._'

'You said to say it bluntly.'

'_True, I did_.'

There was a long, heavy pause. After what seemed like ages, Ryan decided to ask her for her decision, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

'So...what's your answer?'

Please say yes, please say yes...

Anna looked at the floor. She blocked her thoughts for a long time. Ryan tried to break the barrier as quietly as he could, but that would be impossible without Anna noticing. Without warning, Anna suddenly came out of her thought barrier.

'_Okay.'_

Wunderbar! Ichiban! Jackpot! Yes! 

__

'BUT_, under two conditions.' _

Damn...

__

'One, I pick the place.' 

Damn again...

__

'Two, no kissing.'

Damn once _again_...

'Fine with me.'

'_All right. How much do you have saved up_?'

'Ummm...about 75 bucks.'

'_Okay then. We'll go to..._Minato's.'

'_Minato's?_ Where is that located?'

'_I believe it's on Dempster, somewhere in Morton Grove near that special education school, Molloy._'

That's close to Niles West...

'Not _too_ far...wait. _Minato's? _Is that Japanese food?'

'_Yeah. So what_?'

Whadda ya mean_, so what?! _Ryan thought himself, then to her:

'"So what?" Places like that tend to be expensive, maybe!?'

'_You have three quarters of a hundred dollars. You can afford it._'

Ryan started to regret he told her how much he had exactly how much he had. He should have told her, 'Not much.'

'All right then. Tomorrow at...eight?'

'_Seven thirty._'

Eh. Not too bad.

'Done.'

Ryan went for the stairs that led to the second floor. For now, he was going to sleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, but he felt very tired.

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He reviewed his findings.

That young Ryan Davidson liked to go to various Barnes and Nobles's, but he mostly liked to go to the Skokie Public Library, either to study or to read. The times he went varied.

Anna Yamaguchi liked to visit a café in the neighboring suburb of Evanston called Café Express. She would sit there for hours at a time, reading a novel, and drinking a hot chocolate with a little cinnamon. The times she went were almost every weekend, and every Monday. She would sometimes stop in on Thursdays.

Which was easier? It would be hard to do anything to her unless she was disabled, or not at complete strength.

But, whatever needed to happen, he would do it. He had the funding, and the resources.

He would get his revenge. No matter how long it took.

Daku-on's are the Japanese characters that look like they have quotation marks in the upper right side of the character. Not to be confused with Katakana characters '_shi_', '_tsu_' and _'n_' (applies to both Hiragana and Katakana).

Hondaku-on's are the characters that look like they have large periods above them. These are the easiest to remember since there are only five for Hiragana and five for Katakana. They make the '_pa_', '_pi_' (pee), '_pu_', '_pe_' (peh), and '_po_' sounds (applies to both Hiragana and Katakana).

Yoon-on's are the characters that have one large and one small character combined to make a single, usually three-lettered sound, like a compound sound. Not to be confused with Hiragana '_ke,'_ '_ta,_' '_na,_' '_ni,_' _'ha,' _and _'ho' _characters (applies to both Hiragana and Katakana).

__

Iye ke godesu (EE-eh-(very short, 0.5 second pause)-keh-go-dess)/No thank you.

__

Baka (Baa-kah)/Idiot (Note, that if you place a 'ne' at the end, it means 'stupid.')

__

Ichiban (EE-chi-baan)/Number one/Very good. (Note, that 'Ichi' by itself means 'one')

Pocky (Pok-ee)/A Japanese biscuit snack. It's basically a thin bread stick covered in (most commonly chocolate) frosting. Ichiban!

Draft: 6/19/01 (1:46AM)

Final: 9/17/01 (2:15PM)

__

Ja ne!


	3. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter two

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs, _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright by me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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Ryan and Anna were approaching the doorstep of the house. The porch lights emitted a warm, welcome glow in the cold winter weather. The date had gone very well for both: to Anna, he was the "perfect gentleman," and to Ryan, she was the "perfect girl."

Anna was thinking of some way she could reward him. He had been kind to the waitress, and very kind to her. His table manners were impeccable --beyond anything she had ever seen from him. He had also tipped generously. And after that, to her surprise because he hadn't told her about it, he took her to see a late movie. A romantic comedy, a genre they both enjoyed. It was now 11:45 PM, more than four hours after the start of their date.

"Well," said Anna, slightly uncomfortable. "Here we are."

"Yeah. Home."

There was a long silence. Both of them just stared at each other, not even blinking. Just when Anna thought that the tension would smother her Ryan spoke.

"Uh, I'll get the door," he said, turning around.

"Wait, Ryan."

"What?"

Before Anna even knew what she was doing, she moved into Ryan's personal space and lifted her face up to his. She knew that she was breaking a rule that she herself set up for the date, but at that moment she didn't care.

Ryan had flayed his hands in the air for a few moments, but he soon surrendered to her and closed his eyes, joining Anna in the kiss.

They wrapped their arms around each other, Anna's around his neck, Ryan's around her waist.

Then the kiss deepened, and they were lost for minutes, the world forgotten.

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Everyone else in the house watched the scene outside with great interest. They had seen this coming for months now. Chris, Leon, Claire, and Sherry knew that, since Carlton, Ryan and Anna had some sort of a crush on each other. Even when they dated other people, they would always seem to have some thing for each other and even sometimes display jealousy. 

When Ryan and Anna had said that they were going out to dinner, the other residents in the house didn't need to be psychic to know that that meant "date." Even though they both flat out denied it.

As a joke, Leon turned the porch lights on and off, causing them to break away as if nothing had happened. Anna ducked around the back, and Ryan prepared to enter in front. Claire and Sherry wasted no time going to the back door, waiting to ambush Anna. Leon and Chris waited at the front.

The door opened and Ryan was met with wide grins.

"What?" Ryan asked as he took off his jacket and gloves. He wasn't wearing a hat.

"Oh come on," Chris said smugly, his arms crossed across his chest. "Don't 'what' me. We saw what was going on out there."

Ryan froze in the process of hanging up his coat and turned to face Chris and Leon, his mouth open and eyes wide with shock.

"Wha...? You...What did you see?"

"Everything," Leon responded shortly, with a twinkle in his eye.

"There wasn't...anything happening...at all!"

"Sure..." Chris said in a mocking tone. "And we're blind as moles in broad daylight."

Ryan hung his head.

"_Shimatta..._" he cursed.

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Sherry was the first one to greet Anna as she walked in the kitchen door. She stepped in front of her, blocking her route to the living room and eventually upstairs, and gave her a big smile. Anna blankly stared back, wondering why she looked so elated and why she was obstructing her way.

"Whatcha up to?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think you know pretty well what I mean."

"No, I don't. Sherry, I'm kinda tired right now. So, if you don't mind..."

"Oh...we saw you out there with Ryan," Claire winked. "You two were really going at it,"

Anna was taken aback by Claire's comment.

"_Nani?!_" Anna immediately responded in surprise. "We weren't..."

"Whatever," Sherry said, leaning on the kitchen counter, a vainglorious look playing across her face. "More than two people saw what was happening."

Anna balled up her fists. She then pointed her index finger at the kitchen faucet, and water came streaming out at Claire and Sherry, who scrambled to get away from the burst of water.

Anna stopped the water, breathing heavily from her anger. Claire and Sherry were simply laughing which only added to Anna's sour mood.

"You don't have to get so defensive about it!" Sherry said through small fits of laughter.

"Do we have to belabor this subject?" Anna asked in a controlled voice.

Claire and Sherry exchanged smiles.

"Yes, but only for entertainment value!" Claire said, laughing.

"Hey! That's my line!" Sherry quipped.

Anna took that moment to leave the kitchen, and stormed off for her room. Ryan was not far behind her.

"God! I can't believe these people!" Anna said to him. "Interfering in our personal business?!"

"Really," Ryan grumbled. "You'd think they could be a little more considerate."

"Anyway," she said, stopping at her door, which was right next to Ryan's, "_oyasumi nasai._"

"_Hai, Anna-san. Oyasumi nasai._"

****

She gave him a small peck of a kiss on the cheek, and disappeared into her room for the night. She finally got the chance to take off her coat and beret, and threw them casually on the floor, but she was careful to place her shoes at the foot of her bed. The rest of her clothes followed suit, and then she dressed in her silk white nightgown. She approached her bed and lay down heavily on it, giving a weighty sigh of relief.

Staring at the ceiling, she chuckled softly.

"What a nice night this was..." she whispered aloud. "He was so gentleman-like...not really like him."

A forbidden thought floated into her head, and she instantly attacked it with an axe as soon as it came to the front of her thoughts in an attempt to silence it. It subsided, but it kept coming back, no matter how hard she tried. Deciding she was too tired, she slipped into the blankets and started drifting off to sleep. Her last thought before she konked out was,

'If it happens, it'll be after the third date, that I can promise you. So just go away, okay...?'

****

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One month later...

Anna and Ryan sat at the dining room table doing their homework. They had finished all of their work up to their Japanese assignment, which they were currently working on. 

Tonight, they had been assigned to use brush and ink to brush out the 'A' through 'WA' Gyo's, using both Kanas and every single Dan in Ming style, twenty times. Once again, Anna seemed to be going along quite well, while Ryan was somewhat struggling to catch up. He was used to using an informal, not the classic Ming, style.

Leon and Claire were getting ready to go out for dinner. Sherry was at a sleepover at a friend's house, and Chris was having a night on the town with some of his friends from the force.

"Now don't do anything we would do if we were home alone," Claire admonished, reaching for her jacket.

"Yeah," Leon said. "We all know that you're dating right now, that you're both teenagers, and that you're going to be alone for the next hour."

Ryan and Anna both rolled their eyes.

"Bye!" Leon said on his way out the door.

"_Ja mata,_" Ryan called back.

Now they were alone. Sherry wasn't due back until tomorrow, Chris the same, and Claire and Leon were due back at ten-thirty. It was only nine-thirty. An hour to do whatever they wanted.

They sat down doing their work for about five minutes, until Anna set her glasses on the table and announced that she wanted to get something to drink. Ryan heard her, but as he was wrapped up in his work, he only nodded.

"..._Su...Se...So.....Ta...Chi..._" He mumbled under his breath.

A few seconds later he heard Anna's shout from the kitchen, nearly making him jump out of his skin.

"What the hell is this, Ryan?!"

Anna stood in the kitchen doorway, her arms crossed and left foot impatiently tapping the floor, looking very angry.

'What the heck could make her so angry--' Ryan stopped short when he saw that she was holding his pack of cigarettes in her hand. 'Oh shit. I left my squares on the kitchen counter! Ryan, you idiot!'

Ryan checked himself to see if his patch was still on. It wasn't, but he told himself he would do it in the morning. He had meant to throw away his cigarettes, he just hadn't gotten around to it.

"Uh..." Ryan began, "I...was meaning to throw those out..."

"I'll do it for you," she half-snapped, half-mumbled, hating the situation she was in. "Remind me to kill you later..."

With a heavy sigh of frustration, she walked back into the kitchen, and Ryan heard the sound of something hitting the trash. Then the opening of the fridge, followed by its shutting, and the hiss of a can of soda being opened.

'Damn...I paid five bucks for those things. What a waste.'

He relaxed and returned to his work.

'Let's see,' Ryan thought as he massaged the large scar on his forehead through his blue bandanna. 'This character goes like a box with a cross, add four comma thingies, a stalk, small line with a slight curve connecting to it, and this makes '_rice fields,_' I think...better scratch that out, I'm doing Kana, not Kanji. This one goes like a 'c,' and then a little line from the top, making '_to_.' A vertical line, horizontal line with a slight curve to it crossing through the horizontal line, a small diagonal upper left to lower right at the right hand side, line straight down below it into loop, and that makes '_na_.' I know that it's informal style, but damn it, I just can't do it in Ming...'

Ryan went on like this for several minutes, using his Kana, brushing out the assignment, and mumbling aloud the order of the Kana charts to help him remember them, until Anna came out, rubbing her back in what Ryan thought was feigned pain. 

'Oh great,' Ryan thought. 'What now? Is she still angry with me? Or is she gonna scold me for not taking out the trash like she always does...?'

****

"Hey, Ryan. Can I ask you a favor?"

"Uh, sure. What do you need?"

"I have a pain in my back. Can you give me a rub?"

Ryan froze and his brush slipped out of his hand and dropped into his ink tray. He felt his heart flutter in his chest, and he could clearly hear blood pumping in his ears. Was this a dream? Was this real? 

"Uhh...sure...just lie down on the couch..."

Ryan kneeled over her back, pushed her hair out of the way, and started his rubdown.

Anna closed her eyes. Her grateful groan told him what he was doing was okay. Ryan was really concentrating _not _to think about her, and let his own hands do the work by themselves.

'Happy thoughts -- No! Not happy thoughts! Umm...Women -- No, you moron!'

No matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop the blood rushing to certain places in his body. He prayed that Anna couldn't sense this, and prayed with everything he had that she couldn't feel it.

He then returned his mind to normal, and placed his hands under Anna's shirt, to do a more thorough job. She groaned again. Ryan tried to ignore her, and her soft creamy skin was not making it any easier for him. He didn't want his other mind taking over his rational thoughts.

'I could do a better job if she didn't have that bra on,' he thought.

He also caught himself with a reminder that no man his age in his right mind would ask her what he wanted in a situation like this. For some odd reason, though, Anna smiled.

"Here, let me make it a little easier," she said.

Ryan pulled his hands back, and Anna put her hands under the back of her shirt to work with her lingerie.

Ryan realized that he had let that thought slip out in the open. He mentally slapped himself, and made an effort to block his thoughts for the time being.

When she came out with a fancy black bra and coyly tossed it to the floor, Ryan felt as if he would faint. He hesitantly went back to work. His hands against her bare back sent shivers up and down his spine, gave him gooseflesh on his arms, and he had to try hard to stop electricity from running down his hands. 

'Shoot! I'm already starting to lose control! Keep a cool and clear head. Don't let your other mind get the best of you...'

He continued this for a few more minutes, until Anna suddenly turned over to face him. For a time, they just stared at each other. Then once again, Anna made the first move by slowly pulling Ryan down to her. For a split second Ryan's three selves debated what to do.

His impulsive, sensual side told him: "Go all the way kid! Do it!"

His careless, adventurous side said: "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

But the third self, his rational side, always seemed to have the final answer. "What are you asking me for?! Didn't you hear them? Go for it! It isn't often I agree with those idiots!"

"Hey!" His other selves retorted.

So he decided. Ryan would go through with this, and hoped it wouldn't go too far.

Their lips met, and Ryan unintentionally sent a small wave of electricity through them. They both shivered, and Anna gave a soft moan of pleasure. The kiss was wilder and a little more forceful than before. Feeling her tongue pressing against his teeth, he instantly opened his mouth and greeted her tongue with his.

Ryan could barely contain himself. Just the feel of her clothed body against his was making him lose control. Half of him was concentrating on Anna, while the other half was concentrating on not letting his hands wander further than her head and back. He could feel that she was doing the same, running her hands up and down his back alongside his ponytail. He could hear one of her thoughts, and he was sure that it had slipped out into the open.

'My God...' she thought. 'He's...never been like this before. Never so...gentle, yet, so needing at the same time. Maybe we should...'

Anna suddenly separated them, and gently pushed Ryan off, something that puzzled him. She then lightly took his right hand, and led him upstairs toward ('Holy crap!' Ryan thought in panic) his room_._

He reacted as if someone had jumped out of the shadows and hit him with a hammer, minus the explosion of pain.

He stopped them both once they reached the hallway and turned to Anna, meaning to try to talk some sense into her. She, however, looked back at him curiously, as if she was doing something completely natural.

"A-Anna," he stammered. "I know what you're doing. We're not ready for this! What if...you know...something happens?"

Anna had a warm smile on her face, and her eyes turned slightly to their Seraph color. Ryan could feel the same thing happening to him. 

"I've been waiting for someone to do this with. And I'm sure you have too. Just by going out with you, having a mental link with you, and most of all, just by knowing you for all this time, I can see that you're the one." As Anna said this, she moved in closer to him, switching to her best Japanese accent. "_Yoake no kohi issho ni shitai_..."

And she gave a small hesitation, as she looked him deeper in the eyes, her smile still warm and caring. "..._Ryan-kun_."

Ryan was this time hit with a sledgehammer at a very high velocity. Wasn't '_kun_' a title usually used by women for their lovers? He couldn't deny that he wanted to be with her, but he just didn't want anything bad to happen to their relationship. Wasn't sex a bond, something that deepened the two people's feelings and yet the emotional danger of a relationship? Were they ready to take such a big step? Were they ready to deal with the joys and the hardships?

He knew that most of the other guys he knew would have their mouths open in shock and call him "not a man" because of his not really wanting to go through with the situation, but he didn't care_._ He wanted everything to be perfect when his first time came, and now that it was most probably going to be with this beautiful girl -- no, woman -- in front of him, he wanted things to go more perfectly than he at first thought. He cared about her too much to make her regret anything as serious as this. Anna wasn't just some _Iero Kabu._

Sure, he had fantasized about things like this with her many hundreds of times. He wanted more than anything to feel her inside and out, her moving below him, crying out his name...but he just wasn't quite ready yet. 

"But what if you--I mean..." Ryan said, trailing off.

Ryan let her fill in the blanks, knowing that she could understand what he meant.

"I've been on the pill for a month."

"But--" Ryan began.

Anna hooked her hands around his waist, bringing them very close, and placed her finger on his mouth to shush him.

"_Dozo, Ryan-kun._"

Throughout the time that he had known Anna, he could never resist her if she said '_dozo_,' or even worse, '_onegai_' in a perfect Japanese Kanto region accent. It mystified Ryan, but he didn't have time to contemplate that now. For now he only had her to think about.

Ryan gently cupped her chin in his hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb and looked her over.

Her slender, almost fragile, yet slightly well-endowed frame.

Long jet-black hair that smelled of watermelons.

Her deep, greenish-blue eyes, though now crystalline blue. 

All of these made her look almost goddess-like in the darkness of the second floor. And the small amount of light that found its way upstairs from the living room and played halfway across her face only magnified her beauty. To him, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

But her elegance wasn't the main thing that attracted him to her. She was strong-willed, stubborn when she wanted to be, and at times very forward, but at the same time always feminine. And when they were alone, she could even be vulnerable and needing. True, he had feelings that he hid from people other than her, but what she hid inside made her seem like a completely different person at times.

He thought, just then, that no mortal man was equal to her, no matter how deserving, and he thanked god or gods, _karma_, _joss_, or any other cosmic force, or even just sheer coincidence--whichever was responsible--that this female divinity was allowed into his life. He knew he was the luckiest man alive.

A tear of joy sprang from his eye and ran down his smiling face.

'Damn it all,' he thought. 'I...can't control myself anymore...but that's not so bad...not with her. I've never felt this way with someone else before. I guess...that I'm finally ready for her. Once again, that ain't so bad. Ain't bad at all. In fact, it's wonderful. She was right. I've been waiting for someone to do this with...and now...I can see that she's the one.'

"You're...so beautiful...so...so lovely..." he managed to murmur as he brought her in for another passionate kiss, and then guided her into his room, locking the door shut behind him.

Tonight, they only knew each other, and nothing else. It was their night, and no one else's. Tonight, they were one.

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Leon opened the door to the house, and shut it after Claire. They had come home early, due to poor restaurant service. Glancing around the room, he noticed the house was unusually quiet at this time.

'Have they gone to sleep?' Leon thought.

He went to check the dining room table where they always did their homework. Papers were spread out, filled with Anna and Ryan's handwriting, very few in English, most in brush and ink on large printing paper. Some of the ink was still drying, and the brushes looked as if they were just dropped without too much thought. Obviously, they weren't finished.

He looked over at the living room couch. On the carpet was a black bra.

'What the--'

He picked it up and examined it. Now who the hell would be careless enough to leave a piece of underwear on the living room floor?

"Hey, Claire," he called. "Is this yours?"

Claire came over, and a frown crossed her face.

"No...not mine...then who...?"

"Well, let's see," Leon said. "There are only three females in this house. If it isn't yours, then it must belong to Sherry, but I think that we both know that she couldn't fit in this, so that leaves--"

His inquires were interrupted by a loud moan from upstairs. They went up to investigate. Anna's voice, sounding strangely not like her, was moaning out Ryan's name with a 'kun' at the end, and Ryan's was calling out her name ending with a 'chan' in a breathless, half-sobbing sound. 

"I...I...I told them not to do anything like this while we were gone!" Claire whispered.

"I can't believe this!" Leon whispered harshly. "What the hell were they thinking?!"

"With their hormones, no doubt."

There was a sudden, unearthly cry of ecstasy and a low groan, both of which slowly died off into whimpers.

"Should we go in there?" Leon asked.

"No." Claire reached out to touch his arm. "I'll talk to Anna tomorrow. Let's get some sleep, okay?"

"But...we can't just let something like this go! My God, Claire, they're still sixteen!"

"I will talk to her in the morning," Claire said in a slightly rigid tone.

So they had ended up going into their room and getting ready for bed. However, just as they were about to go to sleep, the sounds began again. This time, the floorboards started creaking as well as the bedsprings.

They had to wait for the sounds to die off once again until they got any sleep.

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Ryan arched his back and grasped Anna in a strong embrace as they both climaxed, hiding her scream in his shoulder. After a few moments of stillness, they both fell back into the bed, exhausted and warmed throughout their bodies.

When their breathing slowed, it was Anna who spoke in a whisper.

"Thank you, Ryan-kun. This meant a lot for me."

Ryan smiled and looked at her thoughtfully.

"No. Thank you, Anna-chan."

He paused, enjoying their tranquility, while the clock on the bedside table ticked softly and a gentle breeze came in through his window, rustling the curtains with it. 

"This isn't...like, going to change our relationship in a bad way, is it?"

Anna, who was resting her head on his shoulder, propped her chin up with the back of her hands and looked at him compassionately. "Don't be silly. If anything, this will bring us closer together."

Ryan smiled and kissed her forehead gently.

"I hope so."

There was a short pause.

"So," Ryan joked, "this is what it's like not being a virgin."

Anna gave a heartfelt laugh. 

"Yeah," Anna said. "Weird, huh?"

"Hmmm."

"Hey, did you hear noises earlier? I could have sworn I heard something outside your door just a little while ago."

"Nah. I wouldn't be surprised if you're hearing things."

Anna gave a small, tired shrug.

"Yeah. Guess you're right."

She rested her head back on his shoulder, and Ryan wrapped his arm around her. They were beginning to fall off to sleep, when suddenly she sat bolt upright.

"Shit!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper.

"What?"

"It's 10:27! Leon and Claire are due back home any minute! If they catch us in your room like this, we're screwed big time!"

"Aw, crap!"

Anna got up and hastily gathered her clothes from the pile at the foot of Ryan's bed and made an attempt to cover herself. When she got to Ryan's door, she turned, bowing. 

"_Gomen nasai, Ryan-kun. Oyasumi nasai._"

"_Do ita shimashite, Anna-chan. Oyasumi nasai._"

Then she left, and Ryan was left in his room alone. He fell back and sighed. He wanted to fall asleep with her in his arms.

'But you can't always get what you want,' he thought.

It was a mistake to even think those words, for the song just popped into his head, along with the rather long and loud boy choir.

Oh well, he had an intimacy with Anna as he had hardly dared to dream, and that was enough right now.

'Heh. Damn right it's enough for me right now. Man, I think that I can chalk that up under the second or most probably absolute best night of my life. It's the oddest thing though; we really didn't go into it knowing what to do. I guess if you connect with someone, it just happens...'

He dismissed his thoughts and closed his eyes, expecting good dreams.

In case you didn't know, Japan is made up of eight little 'states' called prefectures made up of countless little regions, divided among the four main islands: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto (the region where Anna's parents are from, thus her accent), Chubu, Chugoku, Kyushu (Q-shu), Shikoku, and Kinki. The 'Kanto' region is where Tokyo is located. Each region has its own special accent (sort of like the difference between Brooklyn and Tennessee), dialect (though unlike Chinese, no matter your dialect, you can be basically understood everywhere), customs, festivals, folk tales, and food. For instance, the Kanto region enjoys the food called _natto_ often, while the people from the Kansai/Kinki (where Osaka is located) region eat it only occasionally. Uh...sorry for my ramblings...

Author's note: The song, 'You Can't Always Get What you Want,' is copyright of the Rolling Stones, and has been mentioned in a way that was not meant for profit purposes, so no suing please. :-)

Also, on a side note: This probably goes without saying, but don't _ever_ forget the date of 9/11/01. The WTC bombing needs to be remembered in honor of those who died at the hands of a few madmen. And don't give into hate against other Arab-Americans, for I can assure you that over 90% of Islams living in the U.S. are peaceful, and in no way have any ties to the cold-blooded crime of 9/11/01. If you do decide to act out in hate, then you're just lowering yourself to the level of the terrorists.

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Nani?! (Na-nee)/What?! (A more polite way to say this would be 'nan da' (Naan-dah))

__

Ja mata (JA-maa-ta)/Later (This is very informal. Japanese is a language based on politeness, so use it only when around friends, or when you're in a big hurry)

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Dozo (DO-zoe)/Please.

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Onegai (OH-neh-guy)/More polite version of above. (You can add "Shimasu" (SHI-maas) to make it even more polite, the literal translation being, I think, "I beg of you")

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Shimatta (Shi-maat-ta)/Shit. (Uh...no politeness here. : ))

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Yoake no kohi issho ni shitai (Yoah-keh-no-ko-hee-eesho-nee-sh-tai)/lit., "Let's have morning coffee." It's a subtle way of saying, "Let's spend the night together."

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Iero Kabu (EE(long 'e')-eh-ro-ka-bu)/lit. "Yellow Cab." This is slang for "Easy Woman" based on the observation that Taxicabs in New York are so easy to pick up. That of course is nonsense, but hey, it still sounds cool.

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Karma (CAR-mah)/Luck, Fate, etc. Depending on context, it can be either good or bad. 

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Joss (Jaw-ss)/Luck, Fate, etc. Depending on context, it can be either good or bad. (Chinese, Cantonese dialect I believe)

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Gomen nasai, Ryan-kun. Oyasumi nasai (GO-men-na-saie-Ryan-kuun-O-ya-su-mee-na-saie)/So/very sorry, Ryan. Good night.

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Do ita shimashite, Anna-chan. Oyasumi nasai (DOE-ee-ta-shi-mash-teh, Anna-ch-aun-O-ya-su-mee-na-saie)/Don't worry about it, Anna. Good night. ("Shimashite" is said as one quick word, and it can also mean "You're welcome", once again, depending on context)

(Also note, that the title 'kun' can also be used by parents for their sons, 'chan' is normally used for young girls and significant others of the female sex, and 'Ming' is a type of cursive style used for Japanese writing. I'm guessing it was named after the Ming dynasty of China.)

****

Draft: 6/17/01 (9:01AM)

Final: 10/2/01 (1:35PM)

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Ja ne!


	4. Resident Evil: Children of the Serpahs, ...

Resident Evil, Children of the Seraphs, Chapter three

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter three

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs, _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright by me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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Ryan slowly opened his eyes. He expected to see Anna right there, next to him, but then he remembered what had happened the night before. He groaned and stretched, and opened his mouth for a big yawn. Today was Saturday, so he shouldn't have been in that much of a hurry to get out of bed. But he did anyway. Rubbing the crust out of his eyes, he put on a new change of clothes, along with his old gray hooded sweatshirt that he hadn't replaced for years, and for some odd reason hadn't grown out of. Concentrating, he checked for Anna's presence in the household. She was in the house, and awake.

Looking for his camouflage-green hair tie that was on his nightstand, exactly where Anna had left it the night before, he found her small, thin, gold chain sitting next to his clock, which read 9:53 AM. He lifted the chain and placed it in his pocket. His bandanna, which Anna had also taken off the night before, rested on the floor atop yesterday's pile of clothes. He picked it up and tied it around his forehead, being careful to completely cover his scar. After noticing how wrinkled it was, he made a mental note to ask Anna to iron it out again.

A sudden draft from the open window next to his bed reminded him to close it, and memories of the previous night drifted into his mind.

'Man,' he thought. 'The way she wrapped her legs around me, her moans and cries, the way she squirmed...the way she treated me...what a night...'

They had made love in the darkness--though they could see each other in the moonlight that shown though his windowpane--with the window open. Even though they used a light covering, it hadn't felt cold that night. Because their bodies had warmed each other? Ryan didn't want to guess.

'Maybe it was because of my electric element? Electricity can generate heat.'

This morning it seemed like the night before was a romantic fairy tale, but it had really happened. And that was something that he would be more than willing to accept. One thing bothered him, though. When they were first deep into the loving, he had wanted to let all of his feelings out, tell her how much he was finding that he cared for her, how he wanted to be with her, but he couldn't find the words. He hoped that Anna felt the same way, but she too had said nothing that gave away any such thoughts.

He took a glance around his rather large room. Well, large for him at least. A bed against the far left corner next to his window, a closet in the wall with a mirror on the door, a desk with a computer on it (yet another gift for his sixteenth birthday), shelves, two bookcases, a lamp or two, dark blue carpeting. Considering that he was somewhat of a slob, it surprised him that his room was so well kept.

'Probably because of Anna. I guess it's true when they say the woman changes the man.'

In the shelves of his first bookcase were two framed pictures. One of the whole household in one big picture, and the other of just him, Anna, and Sherry. On his computer desk was an oak-framed picture of him and Anna. In that picture they were leaning their backs into each other, both crossing their arms and looking smugly at the camera. There was one last photo on his nightstand, a single picture of Anna, the frame elegant in a 15-carat gold, her full name written in perfect Kanji at the bottom. It was a full body shot. Anna was looking directly at the camera, wearing a green female kimono with gold floral designs, and a brown-gold obi. She wore her hair braided up into a ponytail--a rare occasion--and had a benevolent smile. The background was of the nearby corner of Oakton and Knox Streets at dusk. That was the day that he, Anna, and Sherry had gone to the annual _Natsu Matsuri _of 2001, which was held at the Buddhist Temple of Chicago.

That day was forever etched in his mind: not only because of how good that day was, but also because it was the first time that he had worn his own brown kimono and navy blue obi, both which were gifts from Anna for his sixteenth birthday.

'I've rarely worn it since,' Ryan thought. 'Don't want to ruin it...'

He picked up the picture of Anna and admired it for a few long moments before setting it back down.

His own private video game collection resided on a shelf above his computer, along with a few PC games.

On the bookcase next to his computer was his prized Anime and Manga collection, and in the right-hand side of his desk was his more..._private_ collection of Anime and Manga, which was why he always kept the drawers locked with a key. Ryan cringed at the thought of what would happen if anyone were to discover the contents of that drawer.

'Anyone, especially Anna, would flip if they found that I have "La Blue Girl," among many others, and that would most probably seal my fate...'

On the shelves of his other bookcase were various books, including all of James Clavell's works, and dozens of other books, most of them on war history. There were even a few that were on Chinese and Japanese history, all arranged in chronological order_. The Yellow Turban Rebellion, The Overthrow of the Han Dynasty,_ _The Mongol Invasions of China, The Great Wall of China: Beginning to present,_ _The True Life Accounts of William Adams: The Miura Anjin-san,_ _The Battle of Sekigahara: The battle that decided the fate of Japan, The Tokugawa Shogunate, The Meiji Restoration Period, _and _Hirohito: Emperor of Japan._

'Well, not anymore. I believe that his son Akihito is the current Emperor...' He thought. 'And to think that they called Hirohito's reign the age of harmony? How is getting bombed _twice _by nuclear weapons, plus a whole bombing raid over the freaking capital and years of famine, _harmony_?'

Ryan brushed his hands over his face and decided he could go another day without needing a shave. Tying his hair, he stepped out his door and soon found that as he walked, he couldn't keep a certain bounce out of his step.

He came out into the hallway, and there was Anna, dressed in a white bathrobe with a damp towel wrapped around her hair, cheerfully humming to herself.

Ryan wasted no time in locking his hands around her waist, and twirled her around as she gave a soft squeal and a laugh.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu, Anna-chan._"

"_Ohayo gozaimasu, Ryan-kun_."

Ryan moved her in for a kiss, but Anna blocked her lips with the back of her hand.

"Listen to me, Ryan, we can't act like we just went through what happened last night."

Ryan grinned.

"With someone as beautiful as you, that's gonna be pretty hard."

Anna beamed at his compliment.

"Just try, okay?"

"I promise I will."

With an effort, Ryan let go of Anna and turned to enter the bathroom for a shower. Then he remembered what he was holding for her, and turned around.

"Oh! Anna!" Ryan said, reaching into his pocket. "Your chain." He held her gold chain out to her.

Anna took the piece of jewelry and clasped it around her neck.

"Thanks," She winked. "I was looking for that."

Anna then trotted down the steps, continuing her hum, and Ryan smiled to himself and turned around for the shower. Sighing in bliss, he said to no one in particular, "Life is marvelous, is it not?"

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Claire watched Anna enter the kitchen, inwardly debating what she would say to her. Anna was dressed in her white bathrobe, and had a towel covering her hair. She paused and looked around the table at Leon and Chris, looking to see if they could give her any advice.

Chris was suffering from a hangover, Claire could tell, and he was doing a terrible job trying to hide it.

Leon was waiting patiently for breakfast, reading the _Chicago Tribune_™.

Sherry had yet to come back from the sleepover.

By the sounds of running water coming from upstairs, Ryan was taking a shower.

Ever since they had moved to the suburbs Anna had been enlisted as their cook in the mornings, and Leon was the night cook, since they were the only two in the house who could prepare an edible meal. And with the exception of a few courses, there were no objections to that.

"_Ohayo--_uh...I mean, good morning everyone," Anna said, a strangely delightful mood showing in her voice. "What will it be?"

"I would like the Saturday usual, please," Leon said.

"I concur," said Claire.

Chris made a mumbled response while covering his ears.

"Okay then."

Anna went to work on the homemade pancake batter, French toast, and bacon. She worked very efficiently, almost like a pro, not even stopping in her search for the ingredients, and got the homemade batter done in five minutes. In another ten minutes or so, breakfast would be ready, so Claire took this time to talk with Anna.

"Anna?" she said, "can I see you out in the living room, please?"

"Do you have to? Breakfast will be ready in only a few minutes."

"Yes."

Anna followed her into the front room. Anna sat down on the sofa, and Claire stood over her. Claire looked deep into her eyes, looking to see if she was purposely hiding something from her. Her eyes told Claire nothing, so she supposed that she had no idea about her and Leon arriving home early the previous night.

In a way, Claire was happy that Anna and Ryan had gotten so close. After all, they were like the kids she never had. She wanted only the best for them. But on the other hand, she was very disappointed in Anna for doing something like that when she was only about three months away from being legal age. Claire could easily charge them with statutory rape but she wasn't cold hearted enough to do something like that.

"What is it?" Anna asked.

Claire paused, looking for a way to say it. Finding none, she went for the slightly direct approach.

"Let's just say that Leon and I got home early last night."

Anna seemed to tense up a bit, but other than that she kept her composure.

"How early?" She asked slowly.

"Half-an-hour, I believe."

Anna then tried to bury her head in her hands, no longer able to keep an impassive face.

"Oh...damn it!" she gasped. "You...you were back home by then? Did you...hear us...?"

"Yes."

"Oh no..."

"Hey," Claire said, resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I know that you're not quite yet the age of consent, but we're not gonna turn you over to the cops or something."

"It's not that! You were...you heard us...This is so embarrassing! Do you know how mortified I am?"

Claire thought for a moment.

"Yes, I do, actually."

Anna wasn't expecting that response. She cocked her head to the side a little and raised an eyebrow.

"Look, have you been using the pills I gave you?"

"Of course," Anna grimaced. "I'm not stupid."

There was an ever-so-slight pause in Anna's response, that Claire thought she might say "no."

"Good. Now come on. We don't want our breakfast to burn."

When they got back in the kitchen, Ryan was sitting down, shaking Chris's shoulder, wondering why he looked so downcast and tired. Anna soon finished making breakfast, and served it around the table with the flourish of a hostess who loves to entertain.

"Nice," Ryan complemented. "You would make a great housew--uh, I mean house cook."

Anna shot Ryan an "Oh, please" look, then gave him a coquettish grin.

"Is that an invitation?"

Ryan returned her grin with one of his own lopsided smiles.

"No, just a compliment."

That had attracted a few looks from the others. Ryan and Anna just stared back at them.

"What?" they both said.

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Anna stood over the stovetop, hiding her face from everyone. She was scared almost to death. It was if some horrible omen had just descended upon her.

'That one Friday he took me out,' she thought. 'I...I forgot...'

She silenced the voice, evading herself from the thought of how serious her consequences would be. She managed to convince herself that somehow her Seraph powers would prevent anything from happening.

'Just serve the damn food, Anna,' she told herself. 'It's all right. Nothing's going to happen. Nothing at all. Just act like everything's normal. It's all right.'

'_But it's not!'_ a voice in the back of her head screamed.

Anna blocked her thoughts for the time being, put on a convincing smile, and turned around to serve breakfast.

****

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Six weeks later...

****

Anna Yamaguchi resurfaced from the water, taking a deep breath of air, being thankful for one of the simplest, yet most important, commodities the Earth had to offer.

She had swum about ten laps back and forth around the large school pool along with the rest of the swimming team, and had decided that she had had enough for now. For some reason, she felt a little more exhausted than usual. She used to be able to swim between fifteen and twenty-five laps; maybe a few more if she was having a good day, but now she would be lucky to even get eight in.

She got out of the water, said good-bye to her teammates, and went into the locker room to get dressed back into street clothes.

She was headed straight to the doctor's office to receive the results of her bimonthly physical. Usually, she could be given the results in just one visit, but since all the school sports teams were being tested at this single location; it had taken almost two weeks to get the results back.

The drive into Chicago only took about twenty minutes, and soon she was at the doctor's office. She waited patiently until her name was called. After finishing her exams, she waited once again in one of the medical rooms. When her doctor returned, he had an inscrutable expression on his face.

"Is anything wrong?" She asked.

"I think it would be better if you just read this."

The doctor handed her a few papers. Anna read them over without much consideration, but stopped when she arrived at the bottom of page two. Her eyes widened.

"This...this...can't be right..."

"It's what the test shows, Ms. Yamaguchi."

"Oh dear God..."

"I think that you should look this over with your parents."

She lowered her head.

"Yeah...I should...shouldn't I?"

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Anna stood in front of the house. The snow that was falling in thin blankets the biting cold didn't bother her much, considering what was going on at the moment.

'What will Ryan say?' she worried.

Gathering all of her courage, she placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly.

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Sherry sat in a chair at one end of the living room working with a twist lanyard, as Ryan, across the room on the couch, busy reading a book entitled _My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King_.

The sound of the turning doorknob made him look up from his book. Anna walked in, shivering.

"Uh, hello..." Sherry greeted.

"Jesus!" Ryan exclaimed. "Why didn't you wear a winter coat?"

He walked over to her and led her up the stairs to his room for her to warm up. Closing his door behind him, he led her to the foot of his bed, and draped his comforter on her.

"There you go, Anna-chan. I'd wish that those stupid bastards from Com Ed would hurry up and fix our heating, but I guess this will have to do for now, _neh_?"

"Yeah..." she answered meekly.

There was a gloomy silence in Ryan's room. After a few tense moments, Ryan sat down next to her.

"Hey, uh, Anna-chan..."

"Yes?"

"Well...we haven't...you know...since my birthday, and I was wondering if we could, you know..." Ryan said as he moved closer to her.

"No!" She said, almost snapping.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Look, I hate to shatter the moment, but...just read this..."

"Why? It's just a normal physical."

"Just read it! Please. I can't say it."

Anna handed Ryan the papers. Ryan gave her a pensive look for a moment, then he began to read the document. He stopped when he reached the bottom of the second page. His eyes widened and he gasped.

He checked to see if the ink had somehow been disoriented, hoping against hope that what he saw was somehow wrong. If it was indeed correct, Anna was,

"Pregnant..." Ryan whispered to himself.

Anna's head slumped.

"What the f***...?" Ryan asked himself more than anyone.

Anna didn't respond to him. He sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, this time not as close to her. He felt as if his head would explode and his body dissolve.

"How many are...we...expecting?" He asked.

"I don't know. It's too early to tell."

Ryan held his head in his hands, wishing that the day would start over and that this wasn't happening.

'_Kuso...!_ This is definitely not what I need right now! For Christ's Sake! I turned seventeen just ten days ago! This is just...' Ryan brooded silently.

"Well, look, Ryan...I know that this has come at a _really_ bad time, but I believe we can accept it and go with the flow. _Shikata ga nai, neh?_" Anna said.

Anna came closer to Ryan and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ryan sat as if he was frozen, staring vacantly at the floor.

"I know we can work this out somehow," Anna said, sounding sure of herself. "Everything's gonna be okay..."

Ryan's head was spinning. He was hard put to pay attention to her just now. The only thoughts going through his head were various curses in rapid succession, how his life was so utterly ruined, and the fact he would be responsible for a human life, or lives.

"I had plans too, but now we have something else to -- "

Ryan didn't know what happened next. Something just set off inside him, and he jumped to his feet screaming. His rational thoughts were tossed out the window.

"This is all your fault!" Ryan shouted, his voice strained and desperate. "Yours!"

Anna got up and shrank back a few steps as he advanced on her threateningly, not believing this outburst.

"What?" She said, dumbfounded. "What do you mean, Ryan-kun?"

"You lied to me! You said that you were on the pill!"

Ryan still kept his advance.

"I...I-it's not 100% effective--"

But Ryan continued, still shouting.

"You pushed me into this situation just because you just had to satisfy your own desires! You have plans? _I_ have plans for the future! Or more correctly, _did_!"

Anna's backside hit his desk. She had no more room to retreat.

"Ryan, please stop! Just listen t--"

"No! Quiet! I won't hear it, you ungrateful, whiny little bitch!"

At this, Anna looked solemnly at the floor.

"I don't even know why I slept with you in the first place! Get me off of this hook and get an abortion and--!" 

It wasn't until Ryan hit the floor that he registered that he had been slapped very hard. It was also at this time that he realized what a mistake he was making. He looked up at Anna, who had an expression on her pale face that made him loathe his very being. She was badly hurt, and having a hard time keeping back her tears. Somehow she found her voice, though it was a little shaky.

"You...you...bastard! How can you say that?! You mean to tell me that you care nothing for what's growing inside of me?" Her voice finally cracked. "Your own flesh and blood? Well, I don't know about you, but I care about these children inside of me! _Our_ children! Shouldn't you feel the same way?!"

"Anna, I--wait, Anna-chan--"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it! Get out of my life, Ryan Davidson! Keep going and never look back!"

Anna ran for her room, her hair flowing behind her.

"Anna!" Ryan called after her.

She paused at Ryan's door to look back at him.

"_Zakennayo!_"

She ran into her room crying, slamming the door behind her. Ryan suddenly felt very insecure. He knew he would never get her back.

He turned to the closest wall, and punched it hard. He ignored the dull pain, and simply kept his fist there.

Sherry then came to his door, a bewildered expression showing on her face.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked. "Anna just ran into her room crying."

Ryan slowly turned to Sherry as if impending doom. He must have had a very angry face, because when he turned, Sherry started to back up.

"Nothing," he rasped. "Leave. Now."

Sherry turned and walked toward her room without saying anything.

He tried to establish a mental link with Anna, but she blocked his every attempt. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to communicate with her in that way. He went over to the wall that separated their rooms and knocked on it, but she was crying too loudly for her to notice.

He walked out of his room and knocked on her door. This time, she heard him.

"Go the hell away!" Anna screamed from behind her door. "_Ima!_"

'Great,' Ryan thought. 'You just freaked out at the situation and blew it completely out of proportion. Now you've lost the girl of your dreams. So tell me, Ryan Davidson, how do you feel?'

Ryan told himself to shut up, and walked downstairs into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He dug through it for a moment, not really looking for anything. His hand suddenly brushed up against a tin cylindrical object hidden in the back and he grabbed it. His hand came out of the fridge holding a can of beer.

'They say you can drown your troubles in alcohol...might as well give it a try.'

He took out several more, and sat at the kitchen table. Opening one, he placed it to his lips and threw it back with a grunt. There was a slightly vile aftertaste, plus his stomach didn't quite approve of the presence of the beverage.

He ignored the taste, what his stomach felt, and kept drinking.

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Claire opened the door to the house, feeling very tired after her day at the hospital. All she wanted was rest. The house was quiet again, which meant something was amiss. She walked into the kitchen, looking for something to eat, and froze.

Ryan was passed out on the table, eight empty beer cans lying beside him, one of them spilled out on the table and floor, the alcoholic libation still dripping into a large puddle on the floor.

'What the hell is going on here?!' she thought.

She shook Ryan a few times. He mumbled a few incoherent words, but refused to wake up.

She needed some answers, so she went to Anna first. She knocked at her door.

"I said to go away!" Came the reply from the other side.

"It's me. Claire."

After a pause Anna told her to come in.

The room was dark, the only light shining in from the hallway. Anna was lying on her bed, back to the door, and Claire could sense that she was silently crying.

Claire took a seat at the edge of her bed.

"What's going on?" Claire asked. "Something with you and Ryan?"

Anna paused again.

"I...went to the doctor's for the results of a physical, and the results that he gave me say that..." Anna paused for a deep breath. "...I'm pregnant, and when I tell Ryan about this, he just explodes in my face about how it's all _my_ fault. So I slapped him and I've been in my room since."

Claire almost jumped up form the bed at Anna's words. She couldn't believe what she was being told. 

"I thought you were on the pill!"

"It's not 100% effective, Claire. I only slept with him twice. The last time was on his birthday, ten days ago, and we used protection that night. I got the results just yesterday, and I went in for it two weeks ago, so I know it was the first night. But I know I used the pill."

Claire could tell that there was something else on the edge of Anna's tongue, almost slipping out of her mouth. She knew that the younger woman was hiding something.

"Well, in case you didn't know, Ryan is down in the kitchen, passed out drunk. I can tell he really feels sorry for what he did. Maybe...maybe you can forgive him in the morning--"

"That bastard deserves whatever he gets," Anna replied, her voice as sharp and deadly as a Dotanuki Katana.

"What?"

"He told me...he...doesn't care about what happens to our children..."

"Whoa...how can you say that?!"

"He told me to get an abortion! What better proof?"

"You're both young! You both have a bright future ahead! A kid isn't exactly what you guys need at the moment. What other kind of reaction were you hoping for?"

"A caring and understanding one, maybe?" Anna replied, her voice strained from the tightness in her throat.

There was a pause as Anna fought for control of her tears and forced them at bay.

"You're not going to stay angry with him forever, are you?"

"Of course I am! If he doesn't care about our children, then he doesn't even care about me. Hell, he hasn't even told me that he loves me yet..." Anna's next words were said quietly, and Claire could just barely hear them. "If he really does..."

'"If he really does?"' Claire thought. 'Are you blind, or just hardheaded?'

Claire paused, wanting to add a dramatic effect to her next words.

"...Do you love him?"

Anna choked and gave what sounded between a laugh and a sob.

"Ha! Don't be silly! I don't give a damn about him!"

Anna drew in an uneven breath and started to cry again. This time she clamped her pillow over her head, and sobbed into her mattress.

"I think I should leave you alone for now."

Claire left the room, closing the door silently behind her. Glancing at her engagement ring, she remembered Leon. Now how was she going to wake Ryan before Leon got back? If Leon saw Ryan then the young man would have hell to pay. 

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Anna waited for the door to close before she tried a mental link with Ryan. But she couldn't open one, because he was too intoxicated. The only thoughts she was getting from him were slurred and mostly unreadable.

Anna smirked.

"_Kono yaro_..." 

'But maybe, it really is my fault,' Anna thought. 'I mean, I did miss the pill one day, and then I didn't take any RU-48...' 

****

"But men are never too far from the scene of the crime..." she whispered to herself.

She looked down at her stomach. She still couldn't believe that a new life was happening now inside her body. She hugged her stomach and tried to drift off into sleep. Maybe then she could finally get some peace of mind. She could actually feel something growing inside her. The beginning of Seraph powers forming. In a way, it actually felt good. The best way she could put it, it made her feel like a mother.

A sudden wave of queasiness went though her and she quickly got up and ran for the bathroom. On her way there, she swore that if she were to feel like this for any long period of time, that she would kill Ryan very slowly for doing this her.

Author's note: I don't know about where you live, but where this fic takes place, (if you hadn't already guessed, the U.S. state of Illinois) the legal age of consent is 17. Just remember, "Under 17 will get you over 40." : ) 

The book _My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King_ was written and is owned by Reymundo Sanchez, and I do not own the rights to it in any way. And a word of warning for those who read it: it is not for the squeamish (I'm not kidding). Heck, you shouldn't even read it unless you're in high school or something. If you do decide to pick it up, just remember to keep an open mind. A VERY open mind.

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Natsu Matsuri (Na-tsue-Ma-tsue-ree)/Summer Festival

Kuso (KUE-so)/Damn it

Kono yaro (Ko-no-yarr-oe)/Asshole/Bastard. My favorite use of this word is the latter practice of it.

Zakennayo (ZA-ken-na-na-yo)/Put simply, this means 'Fuck off.'

Shikata ga nai (shi-ka-ta-ga-naie)/Literally, "It can't be helped." The most common English equivalent of this would probably be "Shit happens."

Ima (Ee-mah)/Now

Draft: 6/18/01 (12:03AM)

Final: 9/19/01 (1:45PM)

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Ja ne!


	5. Resident Evil: Children of the Serpahs, ...

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter four

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright of me, and may not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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    Ryan awoke with a terrible taste in his mouth, and an even worse feeling in his stomach. His vision was a painful blur, and sounds were multiplied ten-fold. He also had the worst headache he'd ever felt in his life. From what he had heard about them, he was having his first hangover. And a really bad one at that.

First he tried to figure out where he was. He was surprised to find himself in his bed. All he could remember was passing out drunk, then waking on something soft and comfortable, and then retching, and again sleep. Next thing he knew, he was in his bed. He now noticed the foul smell of vomit next to him, and saw it staining the sheets, pillow, and floor.

'Who carried me up here--?'

Suddenly, he felt bile rising in his throat. He ran for the bathroom, and just managed to hold off his stomach long enough to reach the toilet.

He let loose everything from the night before, and more, into the toilet, then he shakily flushed it. After a failed attempt to stand, he found that he had lost his strength. He hung dizzily to the side of the washbowl.

"Morning," he heard a voice say.

"Who's there...?" Ryan asked weakly.

"Leon."

"Crap--"

Ryan didn't get to finish. He lunged helplessly for the toilet once again.

"You really crossed the line last night."

"Yeah...but you would too if you went through what I'm going through."

"What's going on?"

"Didn't Claire tell you--?"

Ryan retched again. Leon respectfully waited for the gasping Ryan to surface, red-eyed and red-faced. 

"No."

"Anna...she's...pregnant...and I lost my temper with her...she told me to get out of her life...means 'our chances are those of a snowball in hell,' in her special little language..."

"Say what?!"

"You heard me...Oh God--!"

Ryan ducked over the toilet bowl and gagged again.

"Damn...It's Monday...I have to get to school..."

"No, you don't. I called you in sick. You can deal with the consequences of your actions later."

'Great,' Ryan thought. 'There goes my perfect attendance record...'

"Thanks, Leon."

Ryan retched once again, and reached over to wearily flush the toilet, missing the lever on his first attempt.

"I'll bring you something to eat later. Clean yourself up."

And Leon shut the door. Ryan then found the strength to get up and get a drink of water from the sink. He placed his mouth up to the faucet and turned on the cold water, not even bothering to get the cup next to the sink.

For a long while, he stood hunched over the sink, rinsing away the foul burning taste, breathing heavily, his forehead touching the rim of the washbowl.

"...Shit..." he groaned.

For Ryan, it was going to be a very long day.

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Leon was not happy. He didn't want to spend his day off tending to two irresponsible kids.

He decided to go to Anna for her side of the story, and he found that both sides concurred almost exactly. It seemed the whole cause of this was simply overreaction.

"'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,'" Leon mumbled to himself. "Especially her..." 

It was going to take a lot of work to bring those two back together, he knew. It would have to be done very slowly and carefully. Then the thought occurred to him that, in nine months or so, he would have more mouths to feed. Would he have to kick both of them out? No, Claire and Sherry would probably--no, definitely--stop him, and Sherry would most likely get a job to help support them if need be. Besides, he wasn't that cold hearted.

He smiled at the fact that Claire and Sherry had so much faith in Anna and Ryan, even though they were on a bad key with everyone at the moment.

"Still," he mumbled under his breath. "Just what the heck am I going to do?"

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Anna finally decided to get out of bed. Fist of all, she was very hungry, and second, she wanted to go see her friends to tell them what was happening. As she walked down the staircase, she felt very tired. On top of being pregnant, she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch the previous day.

She slowly descended the staircase and then went to the kitchen, and reached for all the junk food she could get her hands on. She managed to finish off almost half a shelf of potato chips, chocolate covered Pocky, and pretzels before she was done. She grabbed a glass and poured some milk to wash it all down.

She took her keys from the table at the front door and went for the garage and her car.

She didn't know why, but her eyes began to well up with tears when she hit the accelerator. Hormones? No...she had been thinking about Ryan at the moment she had pressed down the accelerator. About how sick he sounded when she passed by the bathroom, how helpless his groans were--

'Stop that!' she ordered herself. 'He's only a stupid little bastard who's getting one tenth of what he really deserves!'

It was about 2:15 when she reached Niles West. School would be out in about fifteen minutes. She would have to park in visitor parking and then wait for her friends by the main entrance.

Students began to pour out of the doors. She walked toward the school and found her friends and pulled them aside. All five of them followed her out to the tree island that was located at the main entrance. There she explained what was going on, not concentrating too much on gory details. They had known that Anna and Ryan had had at least one night together, but they weren't expecting something like this. Her friends were too shocked to even respond at first. They looked at the ground, or searched Anna's face worriedly, or made little sympathy sounds, until one of them, Jessica Roemer, spoke up.

"Well...Anna..." Jessica started, "we won't judge you, you know. We're here for you, all the way. Something comes up, just tell us, and we'll be there for you."

"Yeah!" Another one of her friends, Janet Tillman, said. "We can help you through this."

The others concurred, nodding and rubbing Anna's shoulders.

"Thanks, guys." Anna replied, a slight smile forming at the edges of her mouth.

"Hey, you don't need Ryan," Jessica said. "That heartless bastard can go to hell for all we care, right?"

"Well, he is the father of my baby, or babies. No matter how much I want to deny it. I guess I want him to at least take some part in my children's life."

"Do you...love him?" another one of her friends, Erin Stone, asked. "I mean, you seem like you do. Isn't that why you slept with him in the first place?"

Anna paused for a very long time, considering the facts.

"I...I don't know..." she said in a low voice, looking down at her shoes.

"Are you going to take him back?" Janet asked.

"No! I can't! He did something unforgivable, and this is his punishment."

After translating to her sister, Mi yon Kim, what had been said, Go eun Kim spoke up. She was the most rational one of the group.

"Anna, I think you should let him back into your life. He's made a mistake. A big one at that, but you'll have to forgive him. He's human after all. We all make mistakes."

"He's not entirely human..." Anna muttered.

This had attracted some odd stares from the others, but they didn't go any further.

"I won't forgive him. I won't take him back. That's that. He can slave over me all he wants, but it won't change anything."

"What about _you _slaving over _him_?" Erin said.

"Shut up!" She snapped. "I never did, never have, and never will!" 

"You're making a mistake, Anna," Go eun muttered sadly.

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Claire Redfield sat in one of many desk chairs in the large auditorium, idly twiddling a ballpoint pen in her right hand. The lecture that was being given was quite boring, to say the least.

She had lost all interest in it once the female doctor at the podium went into a lengthy explanation of the various arteries in the neck. All she knew was that there were a lot of arteries and such, and that made it one of the most difficult places in the body to operate on. That, and how most hunters in the wild, and zombies, went for the neck in order to kill or disable their prey.

For the lack of anything better to do, she scanned over her notes. After she cleared through them, she rubbed her temples and began to think of the current events in the household. 

As it looked, things were not good. First and foremost of all, Anna was pregnant. Second, they would soon have more mouths (or only mouth, Claire hoped) to feed. That, on top of Claire's medical schooling, wasn't what they needed. There would have to be a larger flow of income coming in to deal with that. Third, Ryan and Anna had gotten into the worst fight they had ever had gotten in, thus splitting them apart. Not only did this make Claire sad for the both of them, but it also upset the harmony of the household. Finally, on a lighter note of sorts, Ryan had passed out drunk, and was now suffering from a hangover. Leon had had to stay home and deal with him on his day off. Leon wasn't up to it at all. After she had spent much time persuading him, he had finally caved in and accepted. 'You owe me big on this one,' were his exact words.

'Man, was he pissed off when he came home -- he nearly screamed his lungs out,' She thought. 'Would have killed Ryan if I hadn't been there.'

"Ms. Redfield," came the voice of the doctor. "Do you care to tell all of us the last few sentences I just spoke?"

Claire was brought back into reality, frightened to have the entire auditorium -- at least 50 people -- staring at her.

"I'd...I'd rather not, Dr. Zhao..."

"And why not?"

"Because I...wasn't listening...?"

A roar of laughter went through the room, and Claire sank into her desk chair, trying to disappear.

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Next day...

Cursing, Ryan slammed his locker door hard, creating a loud, echoing 'clang.'

'Goddamn loads of homework for being absent,' Ryan thought. 'Goddamn teachers, goddamn principal, goddamn dean, goddamn school, goddamn school system, goddamn life, goddamn everything, even--' He stopped himself short from putting in "Anna."

"Hey!" a kid next to his locker said. "Watch it! You almost got my hand caught!"

Ryan looked at him and glared daggers. The kid was a senior, and a little taller than Ryan, but he didn't care. He had been, as Chris would say, "prayin' to the porcelain" most of the previous day, and that added to the current events with him and Anna, didn't make him happy, to say the least.

"You look here, jackass, I'm gonna do what I want to do at my locker. If you got a problem, then move your friggin' hand."

"Forget you man!"

The student pushed him, and other students going by began to stop. In response to this, Ryan pushed back. Then the student pushed him again. Ryan returned his shove, this time harder, and then the student. Ryan shoved him even harder, forcing the student back. Ryan thought his next move was to shove, but he was caught off guard when the student punched him in the face. The blow landed on his left cheek, but it still hurt him a bit.

"Oh, it's on now you shit," Ryan snarled as he rushed at the student.

Ryan punched him in the abdominal area. As he hunched over, he launched into one swift motion that started with a right punch to the stomach, which connected into a left spinning elbow to the side of the face, which connected into a right uppercut into the jaw. Ryan then took him off the floor by the collar, and shoved him against the lockers. One hand was around his throat, his eyes glowed slightly purple, and the lights flickered. Somehow, Ryan managed to keep his voice under control.

"Mess with me again, and I'll break my foot so far up your ass, you'll be tastin' leather for a whole freakin' month. Ya hear me?"

"What...what's wrong with you man...?"

"Everything."

"Ryan Davidson!"

Ryan turned around to face the hall monitor who was approaching him, and then let the kid slump to the ground. He was going to have about two weeks of suspension in the BAC, and probably Saturday suspension as well. That is, if he was lucky.

"What are you doing!?"

The hall monitor stopped short when he saw the color of Ryan's eyes. Ryan had begun slowly approaching him, but he stopped when he was a few steps away. The hall was deathly silent. 

Ryan suddenly realized where he was and what he was doing, and stepped back a few feet. He closed his eyes, and tried to regain control. Concentrating, he forced his anger along with his powers at bay. When he opened his eyes again, they were their normal color.

"Just tell me what the consequences are, and I'll go home, okay?"

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Leon was sitting on the couch in the living room, when Anna came home. She didn't pay much attention to him, and simply walked by. About twenty minutes later, Ryan walked in. Anna was coming downstairs at the moment, and the two stopped when they saw each other. They gazed warily at each other, but there was no threat in either one's look. Ryan opened his mouth to say something, but by then, Anna had already turned back up the stairs, headed for her room.

Ryan stood as if Anna were still there, talking to him.

"...Sorry..." he whispered as he looked down at his feet.

Ryan continued to stand motionless for a few minutes, then he walked up the stairs. He stopped at the top, then turned to Leon.

"By the way, I'm in detention for one month, and one week in Saturday detention."

And then had continued to his room.

'Damn it...' Leon thought. 'I'm not liking this...If it keeps going on like this, I think there will be no chance for these two.'

Dinner was much worse.

The table was completely silent. By now, the whole house had heard the story. Ryan looked pensive but ate calmly and deliberately. Anna couldn't hide a hint of anger and she was eating more and faster than usual. Leon, very passive, looked from face to face. Claire, worried and hardly eating anything, glanced at Leon. Chris was training one of his trademark hard stares on Anna and Ryan, and Sherry nursed a look of worry and remorse.

"Pass the salt, please," Ryan asked. Obviously he hadn't looked up from his food to see that the salt shaker was at the other end of the table, right next to Anna.

Only Anna's eyes looked up from her food. They were cold and hard like steel. No one had ever seen her use a look such as that before.

"Get it yourself," she said, her voice low and full of rancor.

Ryan ignored her and asked again.

"Pass the salt, please."

Anna could feel her rage mount.

"I said get it yourself!" Her voice was strained from trying not to shout.

Ryan once again ignored her tone and repeated evenly, "Pass the salt, please."

Anna slammed a fist into the table and stood up. She was seething, and her eyes were crystalline blue. She raised one fist and Chris and Leon stood ready to jump on her if she were to use an acid attack. She did not fire however, and simply hefted the salt shaker in her hand.

"You want salt?! Fine! HERE!"

Anna threw it at him with point blank accuracy. Ryan caught it without looking up from his food.

"Thank you, Anna-chan."

Anna's rage increased to a level that she had never felt before in her life. She could feel the bubbling acid forming at the tips of her fingers. The deadly liquid dripped down onto the kitchen floor, making a hissing sound, and creating small holes in the floor.

"_So na hu u ni watashi o yobanai de!_" 

"_Wakarimasu_, _Anna-chan_."

Anna let out a cry of anger, and then threw her plate at the wall, breaking it into pieces and sending food all over the floor. She stormed away from the kitchen, and the front door slammed.

Everyone stared at Ryan for a few moments, but he simply continued eating, unfazed from Anna's outburst. In a moment he got up, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and threw it on his plate. He quietly pushed his chair back and followed Anna outside. She must have been out on the porch, because the sounds of the both of them arguing in loud Japanese could be heard form outside only seconds later.

There was a crack, and Anna screamed something in Japanese.

"Damn it, Anna! You need to listen!"

Anna replied in shouting Japanese.

"Fine! Then I am! I just need to get through to you!"

Anna once again shouted in a rapid torrent of Japanese.

"Listen to me! Listen! I'm sorry for what I did, okay?! Can't we just leave this behind us?!"

There was another crack, this time louder, and Ryan gave a grunt of pain. Anna continued screaming in paroxysms of Japanese, sending their neighbors outside to see what was causing the ruckus.

"Hell no! I'm not leaving!"

Anna screamed a reply in her native tongue.

"No! You're not going to! We'll stop you if you even try! I'll search all over the freaking world to find you if you do!"

Anna threw open the door, and gave a yelp, reverting to English.

"Get your hands off me!"

"No! Get back here!"

"Back off Ryan! Get your goddamn hands off me!"

"Not until you listen to me!"

There were sounds of a brief struggle, and then Anna could be heard running up the stairs. Ryan stood frozen in place.

"She could have used her acid on me, yet she didn't. Does she still care for me?" Ryan said to himself as he walked to his own room.

"Great," Leon said. "If we don't get those two back together, they might destroy this whole house."

"I say we just kick them out," Chris offered.

"How can you say that?!" Sherry said.

"I don't exactly approve of them living here."

"Just because of one mistake?" Sherry said.

"It's not one simple mistake. They made a human life, at a very wrong time. They're still kids!"

"Which is why we can't kick them out," Leon said. "They need our help. We all worked together to get this far. We can't turn our backs on them now. Not when they need us most."

Chris crossed his arms.

"If I were their father -- " Chris began.

"But you're not," Leon interrupted. "Claire and I are their legal guardians, and we say they stay. Right, Claire?"

"Right," Claire replied, inwardly disgusted by her brother's words. "We do things in this household in a democratic matter. You're outnumbered by at least three-to-one. They stay."

"Fine," Chris snorted. "Have it your way. But I think I know better than you, and I think it won't turn out."

Tidbit: The "combo" that Ryan pulls off in this chapter was inspired by the "_Reppu_" Gear Deathblow in the PSX game, Xenogears. One of my friends tells me that the stance used, and the move itself is _Tae Kwon Do_, so I thought that it might be okay to use it. Basically, it's the same thing as in the game, except that the uppercut isn't a jumping spinning uppercut, but instead a standing uppercut.

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Go eun Kim (KO-uhn-kim)/A Korean name. 

Mi yon Kim (Mee-yohn-kim)/A Korean name.

BAC/_Behavioral Correction Center_

So na hu u ni watashi o yobanai de! _(So-na-huu-nee-wa-ta-she—oh-yoh-ba-naee-deh)/Almost literally: "Do not call me that in such a way!" It's meant to say "Don't you _dare_ call me that!" Basically the same thing._

Wakarimasu, Anna-chan (wa-ka-ree-mas(u) Anna-cha-un)/I understand/Whatever you say, Anna-chan. (Once again, I would go with the latter, though the usual use of it is the first)

Draft: 6/20/01 (6:20PM)

Final: 10/11/01 (2:51PM)

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Ja ne!


	6. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter five

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright by me, and may not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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Next day...

It was lunch time. Ryan was sitting at a table near the main entrance to the cafeteria with his friends, Christopher Abel, Steven Gonzales, Tom Young, and Cindy Tsu. The food at Niles West cafeteria was excellent, far beyond other high schools had to offer. Ryan however, found that he couldn't even touch his Chicken Patty Sandwich, one of the best foods available in the cafeteria.

Just as Anna had related the story to her friends, Ryan had told his friends the same thing. Tom Young, the partier of the group, had given an impressed laugh, but he was quickly silenced by the continuation of the story and a slap to the back of the head from Cindy "The Tomboy" Tsu.

"Well," Christopher said, "we got your back. You know that, right? You need anything, you come to us."

"You know, Ryan," Cindy said, "I could probably get you back on Anna's good side. We're pretty tight."

Ryan chuckled to hide his sadness. His friends didn't see though this facade.

"Ha! I'd like to see you even try. She's stubborn as, hell, she's worse than an ox. You can't make up her mind. She'll do it herself, and once she does she follows through no matter what."

"Hey," Steven said, "she'll eventually come to her senses. She's just like a hurricane. You have to wait for it to pass."

"Yeah, but unfortunately, the hurricane doesn't have an eye. I'll have to sit the whole thing through without a rest," Ryan said as he started to take a gulp from his chocolate milk carton.

"Dude," Tom said with a grin, checking around for anyone in hearing range. "We gotta get ya to a rave and get ya laid. That'll make ya forget all 'bout 'er!"

Ryan went wide-eyed, and chocolate milk came streaming out of his nose along with his mouth, receiving laughs from his friends, and the tables surrounding them.

"What?!" Ryan exclaimed, keeping his voice at a whisper. "Hell no! I don't do Ex--I probably never will. Besides, I don't want to forget about her. I'm not giving up on her. No matter how long it takes."

"Dude, a rave ain't just Ex," Tom explained. "There's also Pot, Acid, 'Shrooms, Coke, Heroin, Speedball...ya name it, it's there!"

"Okay, let me put it to you this way," Ryan said calmly, then hardened his voice and said slowly through his teeth, "I'm not a drug addict."

"Hey! I ain't either. Just like to have a little fun once in a while, eh?"

"My answer still stands."

"Pssshhhh...! Have it your way, man." Tom shook his head.

Ryan leaned back in his seat.

"D'you know that I was under so much strain these past few days, I nearly reached for a cigarette even with my patch on..." Ryan said.

"Ryan," Christopher said. "Don't scare us like that. You need to stay off that shit."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ryan responded. "Hey. What about Tom? He's the one taking hallucinogens."

"Like I said," Tom said, defending himself. "I don't do 'em all da time."

"So how else does your life go?" Cindy asked.

"Like crap. I just got a one-month detention, and one week I'll have Saturday detention."

His friends groaned sympathetically.

"What did you do?" Steven asked.

"Just slammed some asshole against the lockers. That is, after I beat him down with a gut punch, spinning elbow, and an uppercut."

Ryan left out the part about the eye color change, and began to think of how close he was to blowing his cover to what he really was. He trusted his friends, but either they wouldn't believe him, or he was taking a chance of getting caught by Umbrella--or the government, both of which were probably just dying to get hold of such a creation as a Seraph.

'If they ever get me, then it's no doubt that they'll want Anna too,' Ryan thought. 'They get her over my dead body. No matter what she has in for me, pregnant or not...I'll still protect her.'

"Hey!" Tom said, snapping his fingers in front of Ryan's face. "Earth ta Ryan! Are ya listenin'?"

"What? Sorry. I spaced out."

"Whatever," Cindy said. "We're going to Old Orchard Mall this afternoon. We'll be there about the same time you get out of detention. Meet us there, okay?"

"Nah..." Ryan responded. "I'm going straight home."

"Reconsider?" Tom asked.

"No. I want to take my chances with Anna."

"Have it your way," Steven shrugged. "Man, what you do for that girl..."

"What do you mean, Steve?" Ryan asked carefully.

"What do I mean? You've been drooling over her since I the first day I've known you," Steve replied calmly. "It's kinda funny how you revere her like she's some sort of goddess, and she didn't even notice you until you two started to date."

"Watch yer tongue, man..." Tom warned. "Don't diss 'er in front of 'im."

"And she did notice him, Steve," Cindy interjected. "She's had her eyes on him for some time."

Ryan placed his elbows on the table and rested his head on the back of his roofed hands.

"Listen to them well, Steve," Ryan said, an edge forming to his voice. "Don't write checks with your mouth that your ass can't cash."

"Fine! Fine! Sorry!"

"Whatever!" Christopher said. "Just stop this, okay?" 

Ryan and his friends spent the rest of the lunch period in silence.

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Ryan and Sherry walked in the door. Ryan was about to throw his backpack on the couch, when he saw Anna lying there. If he hadn't caught the pack quickly before it left his hands, there would have been a good excuse for Anna to flare up at him.

He knelt down at the foot of the couch, and attempted a mental link with Anna. To his surprise, there was contact. 

But he found that she was in a dream, and was paying no heed to him. He decided to try a new technique that Anna had taught him a while ago. She called it a "Double Dream," a Seraph technique where two people share the same dream, one by invasion. He then attempted to 'invade' the dream. Concentrating to the absolute fullest, he applied all the steps that Anna had taught him. There was a blast of colors, then his vision suddenly went white and then black.

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Ryan was in a kitchen. It took him a few moments to realize that he was in Anna's house, in the same exact place he had met her. He immediately held all his thoughts in the dark recesses of his mind, and hid his identity as an invader to her dream. Just as Anna had taught him to. 

He walked toward the pantry, knowing exactly what would happen. Without much thought, he flung open the pantry door.

"YAAAAHHHHHH!" From inside the pantry came the warlike cry.

The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, staring up at a girl with green eyes and long untied black hair that fell halfway to her knees, in a red T-shirt and blue jeans and a gold chain around her neck. She looked very edgy, and she was hefting a frying pan threateningly in her right hand. Ryan gaped at her, waiting for her to make her move. Then she spoke in a touchy voice,

"_Daré desu ka?_"

Ryan tried to hide a smile. He hadn't thought much of her that day, but by now things had changed dramatically. Who could have known that this girl that he was staring at now would end up being the mother of his children just a year and-a-half later?

"Ryan Davidson," he answered.

The young woman looked skeptically at him for a moment, and at that instant Ryan saw her eyes change to their Seraph color, only for a second.

"_Nihongo o hanashimusu ka?_"

"_Hai,_" He replied. "_Eigo o hanashimusu ka?_"

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"Yes," she replied in English, but with a slight Japanese twang. As long as he had known Anna, she hadn't gotten rid of that slight accent, and he liked the sound of it. "I suppose you do, too?"

"Yeah. May I ask who you are, and why you came at me with a kitchen utensil?" Ryan said, slowly rising from the floor.

"Sorry about that. I just thought you were another one of those men in masks with machine guns. My name's Anna. Anna Yamaguchi."

Ryan's world then slowly faded to black.

When he could see again, he found himself in the helicopter hangar, looking over the dead body of Mark. He had been shot in the head. Ryan would always be haunted by the memory of the day that he took Mark's life. It had been a sad month for him, and especially for Anna. He suddenly felt Anna embrace him.

She was crying profoundly.

"Y-you...d-did the...right th-thing, Ryan..." she said between sobs.

"Yeah..." he murmured into her ear. "I know..."

He placed his chin on her head, using it to cradle her. Ryan knew that this wasn't what Anna had done back at Carlton. Is that what she felt like doing?

"Anna," Ryan said. "Don't cry...be strong..."

The scene suddenly switched to the house they now lived in, on the second floor. They were very close in physical space.

"...Please be with me tonight, Ryan-kun."

Ryan was a bit overtaken by the speed that the dream had taken, but he still went with the flow. Pausing for the amount of time that he had remembered, he said,

"You're...so beautiful...so...so lovely..."

Anna smiled.

"Just remember that whatever happens, I'll always care for you..." she said.

Ryan was alarmed by this sentence. Anna hadn't really said anything like this. Was this another example of what she had really wanted to happen? 

The scene once again shifted to the backyard. This time, he was an observer of the dream.

Ryan approached Anna, who was sitting in the hammock, her back turned to him. Judging by the sun's angle and strength, it was high noon. The sky was very clear, and it looked a little hot, though the dream didn't sort out such things.

"Anna--" he started.

"Go away..." She replied without emotion.

"I-I want to be with you, Anna! I want to place all of what happened behind us!"

"We can't!" She shouted. "You made the single biggest mistake you have ever made with me!"

"The single biggest mistake I've ever made with anyone!" He retorted.

"So what?!"

"Anna, have you ever heard, 'To err is human, but to forgive is divine?'"

"Some things can't be forgiven..." Anna answered, her voice full of venom.

Ryan paused to catch his breath.

"If that's the way you feel then..._shikata ga nai_...I guess..."

Ryan then moped back into the house.

Anna waited a few moments until she started thinking again.

'_Go after him! If you don't, you'll lose him forever!_' her mind told her.

'I...can't...'

'_Yes you can! Now go! _Isogi!'

Anna rose from the hammock and walked into the house. Apparently, they were the only ones there. The observing Ryan found it funny how dreams sorted all these kinds of things out.

"Ryan?" She called out.

She could hear faint singing from upstairs from Ryan's room, and she thought the song was 'Fly Me to the Moon.' She took the steps upstairs slowly, one at a time. When she came near Ryan's room, the singing stopped.

"That was the first song she played on the piano..." A languid voice from inside the room said. The voice was on the verge of tears. "And when we came here, to Skokie, she would play that song as well as sing it...the way she played...her voice...all so beautiful..."

She opened the door and found Ryan at the edge of his bed facing her, his Beretta 92 pointed at his head. His hand didn't even shake. He was really ready to kill himself.

"Ryan!"

"Stop!" He screamed. "Leave me alone! At least let me die with face!"

"You won't have one if you pull that trigger!"

"You know what I mean! Don't push me!" He spat back through clenched teeth.

Anna knew better than to fool with someone with a gun in hand who threatened suicide, but her mind was screaming at her to do anything to stop him.

"Why, Ryan?"

"You...you were the only thing I had left of value in this world!... Without you...I have nothing...Nothing at all!" Ryan said. "Without you, I'm in the seventh circle of hell!"

"What about your family?!"

Ryan snorted, somewhere between a sob and a harsh laugh.

"They were killed by Umbrella. I just got word of it today."

Anna was shocked. Now she was assured that he had nothing to live for, except her.

"I..." Anna began, searching for the words. They didn't come to her though. No matter how hard she tried, her mouth couldn't formulate the words. So she went with, "I-I...Had no idea..."

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" The trigger of the gun moved almost imperceptibly. "You never cared for me then, and you don't now! All you did was use me! I was nothing but a toy to you! Nothing else!"

"That's not true," she said sternly, yet desperately. "If I don't care for you, if you're really just a 'toy' to me, then why do I want to keep our children, huh?!"

"For all I know, you have something against abortion!"

"I believe in the right to choose, and I chose not to. You know why?"

Anna took a step toward Ryan. As she did, the trigger was pulled a little more. If it were to pulled about one-fifth of an inch, it would go off. 

"Don't come any closer!" Ryan warned.

Anna ignored him and kept her advance.

"Do you really know why? Because I..._Ai shiteru, Ryan-kun._"

Ryan's expression turned astonished, and the gun wavered a little in his hand.

'She...loves me...?' Ryan thought.

Anna slowly closed the gap between them. Soon they were only centimeters apart. She squatted down to meet his face, and Anna then placed a gentle hand on his, begging him to lower the weapon.

"Please, Ryan, don't leave me...I need you..."

His grip on the gun faltered even more and Anna's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Our children need you..."

Anna started to lower the gun with him, not forcing him to do anything, simply helping him. Tears started to roll down Anna's face.

"Please Ryan...I love you...please don't do something like this..."

Anna continued to say comforting words to him as the gun lowered. An eternity later, the gun was lying on the bed in Ryan's open hand. He hung his head. Anna held her breath, tensed in readiness for his next move. He slowly brought his head up, his eyes full of tears. Then he was in Anna's arms, crying heavily into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Anna-chan..._Domo sumimasen...Domo sumimasen!_"

Anna shushed him like a child, and held him like a mother would her baby, silently crying herself.

"Shhh...shhh...it' okay...it' okay. You're forgiven...there's nothing to be afraid of...shhh...shhh..."

The observing Ryan was on the verge of tears. 

'S-she...loves me...? Even after all that she's done to me? I can't believe this...I...I can't give up with her now! I have to go on...no matter what happens...'

The scene faded, and soon there was the sound of Anna loudly grunting, and crying out in pain. Ryan then saw that he was in a hospital, and Anna was in a bed next to him, and she was in the midst of giving birth.

"Okay, now, Ms. Yamaguchi!" One of the female doctors said. "Push!"

Anna gave a deafening cry of pain, and pushed.

"Okay! I'm beginning to see a head! Keep pushing!" The doctor urged.

Ryan was holding her hand, trying to be supportive, and he couldn't believe how strong her grip was when she was in pain. He thought his circulation would be cut off, or even his whole hand.

"You're doing great, Anna-chan," he heard himself say. "We're almost done. Not much longer now!"

The screaming went on for several more minutes, how long exactly, Ryan was too unnerved to tell. All he knew was that there was a lot of noise, so much blood it frightened him, and noises that he didn't recognize--could they be from Anna?--and the cries of a first newborn, then two.

"Congratulations," one of the doctors told them after they cut the umbilical cords. "You're now officially parents of a beautiful, healthy, girl and boy."

Ryan held one of the infants in his arms, amazed by how small and fragile they looked. The doctors had left the room, leaving them alone. He gazed down at Anna. She looked very worn out. More so than the time he had seen her swim for almost one hour straight. Her hair was plastered by sweat to the sides of her face, and her hospital gown was soaked through everywhere. She was smiling, though, and to him, she looked more beautiful than he'd ever seen her.

"Hey..." she said in a weak and drained voice. "Have you thought up names yet?"

"I'll name the boy, you get the girl, okay?"

"Sure..." 

Ryan thought hard, but still kept his thoughts in the recesses of his mind.

"How about...Adrian. Adrian Davidson."

Anna then looked thoughtfully at the newborn she was holding.

"Nozomi. Nozomi Yamaguchi."

****

"Nice name."

"Both their names are..." She said, looking down at her daughter. "Do you know...that they're the first natural born Seraphs the world has seen...? We're makin' history here!"

"Yeah, really."

There was a long pause as the two new parents held the infants in their arms. By now they had stopped crying and had opened their eyes. Ryan's son, Adrian, looked curiously up at him and Ryan smiled back. Adrian reached up with his hand and touched Ryan's nose, rousing a chuckle out of Ryan. At that moment, Ryan forgot that this was a dream. All he knew was his children, and his girlfriend. He was at peace, and had forgotten all about the things that Anna had done to him.

"I know that I've said it before," Anna said. "But...thanks for being here with me...I know that I've treated dirt better than you for the past months..."

"As I said before, it doesn't matter. That was the past. Now we have to worry about the future. Our future. Together."

Ryan handed her Adrian, and then took another look at her as Anna began to breast feed the children. She was so angelic to him, and so he couldn't help letting one thought slip.

'You're so beautiful...even after the way you treated me, I still care for you...'

And that was his mistake. The world froze, and then Anna changed. She was in her normal clothing, she was standing before him, there were no newborn babies, and the whole world was gone as well.

"How _dare_ you interrupt my dreams!" She screamed.

The thin line between a punch and a slap was blurred as she brought her hand across his face and with an abrupt halt, the dream ended.

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Ryan suddenly woke up and fell back. He looked up to see Sherry standing next to him. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew...I thought that something had happened to you. You just suddenly passed out and woke up like twenty minutes later...what's wrong?" Sherry said.

"She...she...she..." he stammered. "...nothing..."

"Why did you suddenly jump awake like that?"

"It's...nothing important..."

'So in the dream she had twins?' Ryan thought. 'Jeez, from what I hear, one is enough. Two? I don't know if I'd survive...'

Ryan gazed at Anna. She was still sleeping, but she looked like she was cold. Ryan had to admit, the heating had gone out again--something they were complaining to the landlord about--and probably wouldn't be back on for another two days or so.

He went up to his room and got an insulated comforter, which he laid on top of Anna's sleeping form. He was unable to keep himself from staring at her. This was the first time in a while that he had seen her so peaceful. He resisted the overpowering urge to touch her, just once, and simply watched her for a few more moments.

"Sweet dreams, Anna-chan_..._"

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As Anna slowly arose from sleep, she noticed that a certain blanket covered her. This blanket was not hers, nor was it Claire's, Leon's, Chris', or Sherry's. It was Ryan's.

She instantly threw it off of herself and got up, intent on eradicating Ryan from the face of the earth for even trying to show any form of kindness toward her. Storming toward Ryan's room, she pounded on his door.

"Open up Davidson!" She seethed. "Now! Don't start bullshittin' me!"

Ryan was almost instantaneously at his door. Before he even had time to speak, Anna shoved the blanket in his face, forcing him back.

"Here's your damned blanket back! Never, _ever_, do something like that again!" Anna seethed. "And if I find you in my dreams again, I'll pound you so hard, you'll feel it for weeks!"

Ryan tossed the bedding aside and looked Anna straight in the face. For some reason, Anna stopped talking, but her fury was still boiling under the surface. She turned her head in an attempt to avoid his powerful gaze.

"Look at me Anna," Ryan said, his voice deeply serious. "Look at me! I don't care what you do to me, I still care for you. Okay? I'm not letting something like this come between us. Especially when we're going to be parents. I know it will take some time, but we'll work this out. I know it."

"Shut up. You don't know anything, you ba--ah!"

Anna hunched over as dull pangs of pain started to rack her stomach. She gasped again and groped for something to hold onto, finding the wall.

"Anna? Are you okay?" Ryan said in a concerned voice as he reached a hand out for her. "Where does it hurt?"

Anna was too wrapped up in her pain to notice him lift her back up and bring her into his room and close the door behind him. She realized where she was when she was sat down on his bed. She almost instantaneously got up and pushed him away.

"You little..._hentai!_ Don't you ask me things like that! And sure as heck don't touch me ever again!" She cried through her pain.

On the inside she was scared to death. She knew that the possibility of a miscarriage was highest at this time during a pregnancy, and even more so at her young age.

'Oh please, oh please...don't let it be that...' she thought in a sickening panic. 'I don't want to lose them...'

Anna was forced back to the bed and she lay there, her back to him. She rolled herself into a ball, clutching her stomach. A bead of cold sweat streamed down her forehead and she fought against the urge to cry out in pain.

"Anna! You have to tell me what's wrong!"

"It...it..." She started, debating weather she should tell him or not. "It...hurts..."

"Your stomach?"

Ryan sat down on his mattress next to her.

"Yeah..."

"Here..." Ryan turned her over, surprised to find no resistance. He placed his right hand on her stomach, and gently rubbed it.

Anna almost would have screamed for him to get off if the pains hadn't started to wane. His touch was warm and seemed to send waves of relief through her.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice low and once again deeply serious, yet at the same time warm and full of concern.

"It...just started to hurt..."

"Have any idea why?"

Anna shook her head.

Ryan continued this for a few minutes, until he decided to become a little bolder. He sat Anna up and hooked his right arm around her waist. Anna showed no sign of wanting to resist. They stayed like this for a long period of time, Anna couldn't tell how long. All she knew was that she felt like she was in the safest place in the world, like nothing could touch them. In her heart, she knew that she probably was in the safest place she could be. She knew that Ryan would jump up and defend her life at all costs without a second thought, no matter what she did to him. 

Even at the expense of his own life, if need be.

"I...I don't want to lose them Ryan," Anna said, almost adding the 'kun' title to his name. "If I have a miscarriage, I just won't know what to do..."

"I don't want to lose them either, Anna," Ryan said softly. "I never did in the first place. They are our kids after all."

The sole sound in the room was their breathing. Only when Ryan started to move her in for a kiss was she violently snapped back into reality. She pushed him off and started to walk away, her pains miraculously gone.

"Don't even think that I took any pleasure in this," she said. "I just wasn't thinking straight! It's not like I love you or anything! Oh, and that dream from earlier? It meant nothing!"

Ryan bowed his head. Anna tossed her head, then hurled his door open and fumed out, making sure to slam his door on her way out. How could she let herself do something like that? How could she let herself give up so easily to him, the one she hated? She refused to answer.

'I shouldn't have even done that in the first place...' she thought as she stormed away, ignoring that she bumped into Chris as she went downstairs.

"The hell...?" Chris muttered to himself. "What just happened?"

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Ryan was still on his bed, her words ringing in his ears.

__

...It's not like I love you or anything! Oh, and that dream from earlier? It meant nothing!

It tore deep into him like a chainsaw, but he still knew that his feelings for her didn't, and wouldn't, go away. All he wanted to do was show her that he still cared, that he wanted so badly to put it all behind them. But she was still adamant in her decision to loathe him. And that wasn't likely to change anytime soon. Ryan weakly hit the bed with his fist, in a mixture of frustration and sadness. He should have known better than to make so drastic a move like that at this point. He had been so eager to just feel her loving touch again, that he rushed things, and that cost him what would probably be his best chance to get back together with her.

"Damn you, Anna," Ryan cursed. "There are a million other guys to choose. Why did you choose me? Why did you cast your spell on me? Make me feel this way? Why not someone else? Why stupid, weak, idiotic, incompetent, inept, no good, worthless Ryan Joseph Fucking Davidson?"

Ryan got up and started to leave his room, when he spotted a pack of cigarettes lying on his desk next to his computer. They were untouched, still encased in their plastic wrapper from three days ago. He had found them lying in an alley on his way back from school, and had picked them up on an impulse, knowing that a chance like this was at least one in one million. When he got home, he placed them on his desk. Apparently he had forgotten about them.

He picked them up and started to throw them in his trash can, when a small voice from the back of his mind said, '_What are you doing? You can use those._'

'What?! Hell no! I quit smoking!'

'_Come on. You're going through a lot of pressure right now. A cig is just what you need. It's your favorite brand. Remember the relief you would get from just one, maybe two drags?'_

'Shut up...'

'_...Or how it got you with the 'in' crowd back in Bhrams Jr. High...?'_

'Shutupshutup...'

'..._Or how it would make your hand stop shaking?_'

As if on cue, Ryan's right hand began to tremble.

'_You know you want one..._'

'Shutupshutupshutup...'

'_You know you _need _one_...'

'No! Stop it! I...I told you! I...don't...smoke...anymore...'

'_Just stop resisting and give in. It'll make your life a lot easier_.'

'I...I...I...'

Ryan's resolve suddenly crumbled into dust. He just had to have one, now. He searched his backpack frantically for his lighter. Finding it, he tore open the cigarette package relentlessly. 

He quickly hit the pack against his palm twenty times, just as his former friends taught him to, and then picked a 'lucky cigarette' and turned it over, saving it for last. He took another and placed it to his lips, and lit it.

He then opened the window to air out the room, and, sitting on his windowsill, he took a long drag. 

"You're a weak, pitiful man with an even weaker resolve, Ryan..."

Not even a small puff of smoke came out of his mouth as he spoke; yet another skill that his former friends back in Bhrams taught him. He held it in his lungs as long as he could, then breathed it out, the stress in his nerves instantly relieved.

"You don't deserve her, and never did in the first place," he told himself under his breath. "And you know it, you stupid bastard."

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__

Next day...

Everything was white as far as the eye could see. There were no sounds whatsoever. Anna didn't need to be told that this was a dream. Then, the sound of feet hitting the floor made her look around, but she saw nothing. The next sound was the giggle of a small child. She looked around, and again, nothing. Then a voice spoke from behind her, nearly making her jump out of her skin.

"_Okaa-san_!" came a young female voice from behind her.

Anna turned to see a young girl who looked exactly like herself wearing a white blouse with red flowers and with pig tails, her hair jet-black. She was only between five and six years old, no more than three feet tall. She looked Japanese, but not fully. Anna guessed that there was some type of Caucasian blood in her. There was one thing about her though, that made Anna stop thinking: her eyes. They were exactly like Ryan's. Even though both Anna and Ryan had the same color eyes, his were a shade or two darker than hers were, and a little deeper.

'Wait a moment. Why is she calling me '_okaa-san_?' Could she be...my daughter? Nozomi? Could I have a daughter? Nah. I doubt it. This is just a dream.'

She found that her mouth moved without her giving it commands.

"Who are you_?_" Anna asked.

"That does not matter."

"...Okay, then what do you want?"

"Uhm...." The little girl looked up to the taller woman. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Where is _otoo-san_?"

"_Otoo-san_? Who is your _otoo-san_?" Anna said.

"His name is Ryan Joseph Davidson."

"What!? Then that makes...But why do want to know where he is...?"

"Because he is very hurt."

"Huh? Where?"

"Here," Nozomi said, placing her hand over her heart.

"What do you mean?"

"Why won't you forgive him?"

Anna stepped back, shocked. 

'What the hell is going on here?!' Anna asked herself.

"Why won't you forgive him?" Nozomi asked, repeating her question.

"I...you just have to understand that we're...having a fight right now. Wait a moment. This is just a dream! Jeez. You're not even real."

"Ah, but I am," Nozomi said in a tone and vocabulary that made her sound older than she really was. "I am communicating with you from inside your womb."

"How do you even know all this?! You're still a fetus and you're still inside me! You've got at least seven months till you're born!"

"Give me a little credit. I'm a Seraph too, _okaa-san_."

Anna once again was taken by surprise. The not-quite-baby even knew that she was a Seraph?

'Just how powerful are we?' Anna thought. 'How powerful can a Seraph really become?'

"More powerful than you think, _okaa-san_."

Anna was shocked again. Nozomi's mental abilities must have been almost, if not just, as developed as hers.

"When are you going to forgive him?" Nozomi repeated. "In another day? Another week? Another month? A year? Ten years?"

"I...just don't know..."

"Look, _okaa-san_, I don't want to grow up without _otoo-san_. Can you promise me that you'll forgive him before I'm born?"

"No...I can't promise you anything, sorry."

"You have to!"

"I can't!" Anna snapped.

Nozomi stepped back at her mother's outburst.

"Why?" she asked, her voice pleading.

"Just because. There are some matters that you shouldn't involve yourself in. This is one of them."

"But--"

"No 'buts'!"

"Yes, 'but'! If you're too stubborn to try to mend the mistakes you made, then I have to try and do it for you!"

"Mistakes I made?!" Anna snorted. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"No, you did. _Otoo-san_ has been trying to mend your relationship. He has been trying to apologize for what he did," Nozomi said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "While you have been shrugging him off and slapping him all the time. Don't tell me about what mistakes you 'didn't' make."

"Are you getting smart with me, young lady?" Anna said in a stern tone.

"No. I'm just telling the truth."

"...How old are you really, Nozomi-chan?"

"Not quite two months. In unborn time, that is."

"And how do you keep yourself from getting bored?"

"Adrian keeps me company, though he can be quite a pain in the...side sometimes."

Anna blanched, and she felt her balance start to fade.

"Wha...you...What do you mean?"

Nozomi giggled.

"_Omedeto gozaimasu, okaa-san!_ You're carrying twins!"

At that moment, Anna didn't know whether she should be fearful or exhilarated. 

"I'm...gonna have...twins...? A girl and a...boy...?"

"Yep."

Her balance finally gave way and she almost fell, if it weren't for a mysterious force that kept her on her feet.

"What the...did you do that, Nozomi?"

"Uh-huh."

"But I can't do something like that! If you can...then you must be better than I am!"

"Not true. I'm only able to do that and read your thoughts this well because I'm inside of you, and you're dreaming. I can't talk to you during the daytime, or hope to do anything like that for years. Both Adrian and I will be able to talk to you during the day in a few months."

"Ah. I see."

"Can I ask you one thing?"

"Sure."

"If you hate him so much, why did you let _otoo-san_ embrace you like that?"

Anna turned a deep shade of crimson and she shot a mean glare at her daughter.

"I...I told him the same thing that I'm telling you. I wasn't thinking clearly because of the pain."

"Didn't you take pleasure in it?"

"I did not!"

Nozomi smiled.

"You can't lie to us, _okaa-san_. We know exactly what you're saying, thinking, doing, and feeling. You were about to think that you love him, even though you know that you really do in the first place. The night we were conceived, you wanted to tell him that, but you thought that it might hurt your relationship, so you kept your mouth shut."

Anna didn't have a comeback for that. So, she simply turned to the side in an attempt to avoid the obvious answer.

There was a pause between the two. The short silence was many times worse than in real life, even though it only lasted about five seconds.

"You know," Nozomi said. "The only thing that I hate about growing up is that I'm gonna forget all about this, and you're gonna have to teach it to me again."

"Is that so...?"

"_Okaa-san_?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Anna began to stiffen, but then something that had been dammed up inside broke. She bent down and brought the young girl up in her arms. Nozomi felt real, even though the real baby was more than ten times smaller than this girl was. A tear ran down Anna's cheek, and her voice slightly cracked.

"I love you too, Nozo-chan..." she said as she kissed her on the cheek.

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Everything was white as far as the eye could see. There were no sounds whatsoever. Ryan didn't need to be told that this was a dream. Then, the sound of feet hitting the floor made him look around, but he saw nothing. Then a voice appeared from behind him, nearly making him jump out of his skin.

"Hey, Dad."

Ryan spun around to face the voice. There, standing before him, was a young boy, about five or six wearing a black t-shirt with blue shorts, but no shoes. His hair was jet-black, with a streak or two of dark brown on both sides of his face. He was Asian, but not fully. Ryan took a shot in the dark that there was some sort of Caucasian blood in him. Western European perhaps?

Ryan suddenly froze as he realized that this boy looked somewhat like him. He had the same frame size that Ryan had at his age, along with his eyes, ears, hands, and even hair. His feet, nose, and other small parts of his facial structure however, looked very much like Anna. Even though the boy had called Ryan 'Dad,' he didn't quite believe him. Now however, the resemblances were too on the mark. The boy was his son.

"A-Adrian?!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Yep."

"B-b...but how?! You're...still inside of Anna!" Ryan said. "That means you can't be real! You're just a figment of my imagination. This _is_ a dream after all."

"True, this is a dream, but I am indeed real."

"How can you prove that?"

"I can't really do that, since everything I know, it's a good bet that you know as well."

"So you really aren't real. Good bye."

'Wait!' Ryan heard a voice in his head say.

"Huh? Was that you?"

"Well, duh!" Apparently, Adrian had inherited Ryan's attitude and slight North Chicago Suburban accent as well. Ryan could only begin to guess how he had gotten such a vocabulary at his age.

"How?"

"Oh _mein Gottimhimmel_, would you stop asking obvious questions and just listen to the voice in the back of your skull? I'm a Seraph too, dad."

Ryan gave a 'huh!' of surprise.

"How the--? You're not even born yet!"

"The only way that I'm communicating with you now is that mom is nearby, and you're in a dream."

"I see...Wait! She's nearby?"

"Yeah, but don't bother looking for her. You'll probably find her back at 'home' or something."

"Well...what did you want to tell me?"

"Okay, sis and I--"

"SAY WHAT?!" Ryan shouted. "Did you say, 'sis?'"

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. You're officially the father of twins."

"Holy shi--" Though Ryan knew that if this boy were to take after him, he would probably inherit his wide vocabulary of obscene words in several languages, but he didn't want to him to start filling that vocabulary at such a young age. "--ttake mushrooms! You've got a sister? I've...got a daughter?!"

"Yeah. Her name's probably gonna be Nozomi. That is, if mom really wanted to name her that. Anyway, we've come up with a plan to get you two back together. You just have to wait a few months while we grow, 'cause then we can talk to her even when she's awake. That way, she'll have to listen to us 24/7."

"Great plan. She'd hate someone talking to her constantly."

"On another matter," Adrian said, smiling, "you seem to have gotten intimate with mom yesterday. Well, kinda."

Ryan reddened, but still looked downcast.

"Right, but she just...pushed me off! Damn it! I want to get back together with her! I want this fighting to stop! It's...pissing me off to no end!"

"Trust me, she enjoyed it. Actually, she still feels for you."

Ryan smirked painfully.

"She sure has a mighty fine way of showing it."

"It's just that she can't bring herself to realize that she did wrong. Like you said: she's as stubborn as an ox."

"How did you know I said that?"

"I was there when you said it to her about a week ago."

"Really?"

"Yes. Well, anyway, _otoo--_I mean, Dad--"

"It's okay. You can call me _otoo-san_. I don't really mind. You could call me 'father' in fifteen different languages for all I care," Ryan told the boy affectionately.

"All right then, Dad. See ya later."

The little boy turned to walk away, but suddenly swung back as if he'd forgotten something.

"Oh, Dad--"

"Yes?"

"I love ya."

"What? You love...me?"

"Of course! You're my dad! I couldn't not love you."

"Ahhh, come here you little squirt," Ryan said as his son jumped in his arms. Ryan gave him a bear hug and his son tried to return it as best he could. After a few moments he finally relaxed his grip on him and let him go.

"See ya in...seven months?"

"We hope so."

"Oh, and tell your sister that I said 'hi.'"

"Don't worry. I think that she already knows. _Abayo, otoo-san_."

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"...is Skokie. This Yellow Line train ends here. All passengers must leave the train. Thank you for riding the CTA."

Ryan awoke with a start. The loudspeakers were very loud in the first car of the train, so he really didn't have much trouble getting out of sleep. He had gone into Chicago to look for Anna, who had left a note saying that she would be going down to the Loop--downtown Chicago. She had said that she would be back two hours ago. So, Ryan had been worried, and took off on the Skokie Swift and took it to the Howard station. The Howard station was the closest way get to the Loop from where they lived, so he thought it a good place to start. He also knew that she favored the Red Line train, which was the main rail line at Howard, so he took that.

When he didn't find her, however, he went back toward Skokie, deciding to give up on the little road trip, reassuring himself that she was old enough to find her own way home. Besides, she could use her Seraph powers to protect herself, and she would call if she got lost. But he doubted that any of that would happen.

When he stepped off the train he saw that the bus leading back to his house, the 97, was at the end of the turnaround, leaving. He cursed and ran, his adrenaline started to coursing though his veins as he took off.

"Hold it! Wait!" He shouted.

He ran at top speed, using his electric Seraph powers to give him a boost. He reached the bus in seconds flat, leapt up the stair, paid his fare using his fare card, then turned around to find a seat. When he found one, he got a good look at who the other lone passenger was. He gasped.

'Anna!' He thought.

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"...is Skokie. This Yellow Line train ends here. All passengers must leave the train. Thank you for riding the CTA."

Anna was awakened by the voice over the train loudspeakers. She had ridden to downtown Chicago, the Loop, for no apparent reason. She walked around Michigan Avenue for awhile, visited the Chicago Art Institute, took a bus to the Shed Aquarium, then turned around and took the Red Line train back to its last stop, Howard, and then took the Yellow Line--Skokie Swift as it was more commonly known as--back to Skokie.

She groaned and stretched, then gave a deep yawn and got up out of her seat to leave the train. If she was lucky, she could catch the 97 bus to Oakton, and then get off at the corner of Oakton and Kenton. The house wasn't very far from there.

'That's one block from where he took that picture...' She thought. 'On the night of the _Natsu Matsuri_...' 

She shook her head to dismiss her thoughts and went for the doors. As she got off the train, she could see the 97 bus starting to drive away from the turnaround known as the Skokie Swift Station. She ran as if for dear life, not wanting to wait thirty minutes to catch another bus.

She heard someone in front of her screaming out: "Hold it! Wait!"

Anna's step faltered and she almost fell, when she recognized the voice. Ryan. She was surprised that the blue bandanna didn't give it away when she first saw him. She thought of shouting at him for being so stupid to try and look for her, and even more stupid to go walking around Chicago of all places, wearing a bandanna. Either he wasn't thinking clearly, or he had no fear of gangs like the Vicelords and Latin Kings. In his own words he was "looking to get his ass capped."

He got on the bus just seconds after she did, not noticing her. Anna was breathing hard, and she felt a little perspiration slide down the side of her face. Usually, she wouldn't be tired, but she had been walking around for a while, and was also carrying two children.

'I really wish that they would bring back that 'Suite Home Chicago' attraction again...I don't care if the couches are fiberglass sitting on the busiest street in Chicago. They were a place to rest my legs...' 

Ryan slipped his fare card in the payment box, then found a seat. He immediately stood up again once he saw Anna. She was sitting in a seat far away from Ryan, but he simply rose from his own seat and sat down next to her.

"Where were you?!" He whispered into her ear. "You told us you were going down to the Loop for awhile, but you were gone for five hours! And why didn't you take your car?"

Anna didn't respond. Instead, she continued to stare out the window, oblivious to him. Ryan didn't take too kindly to this, and tapped her shoulder. This was a mistake, because she grabbed his fingers and twisted them, causing him to cry out in pain. She released her grip when he said, "Mercy! Mercy! Ouch!"

"What was that for?!" He nearly whimpered.

"Touching me."

"Anna-chan--"

"I told you, _do NOT call me that._"

"Okay, Anna...I--"

Ryan stopped as he saw more people come on the bus, and so he switched to Japanese so they could have a little more privacy.

"...Look...I'm sorry, okay? I made a really, really big mistake. I'm really sorry."

"That doesn't cut it, Ryan." Anna responded in the same language.

"What? What else do you want me to do? _Kowtow _to you for a year? Just tell me! I'll do it!"

There was a pause then Anna spoke slowly, gritting her teeth.

"Okay, then how about this: go rot in hell. Then, maybe I can forgive you. Not gonna happen, right? Then get out of my sight."

"Anna, I..."

"Shut up. Just shut the hell up."

There was a thick, heavy silence for the rest of the ride, until Ryan decided to be bold and touched her hand with his. Anna slapped it away, then got up and prepared to leave the bus for her stop. When she got off, Ryan could be heard shouting after her, running through traffic. Various honks and screeches could be heard as cars stopped just short for him. Ryan ran with increased speed, dipping into his Seraph powers.

"Anna! Wait! Please!"

Anna stopped and turned around. Ryan was running up behind her, his breathing slightly labored.

"_Achi ni ikeyo! _Don't even try to sweeten your talk!" 

"No! I'm not going to let you go!"

"Well, I am not going to let you back in my life, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"There's still something I can do about it!"

Ryan grabbed Anna's arm with a strength that Anna had never felt from him before. His grip was so strong, that she couldn't hope to try and break away. And as she soon found out, protesting had no effect on his either. They had reached the front door of their house, and Anna felt his grip weaken a bit. This gave her enough space to break free and run in the house.

"Anna! Come back!"

But Anna was still moving through the house as fast as she could. She thought he would pursue her inside, but she heard Leon stop him at the door and bark some sort of warning at him.

Anna kept her advance up the stairs, heading toward her room.

'Bastard...' Anna thought.

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****

"Damn you, Leon!" Ryan shouted. "Let me in!"

"Not until you calm down!"

"Calm down?" Ryan repeated hysterically. "Calm down?! You want me to calm down?!"

"Yes!"

"To hell with that!"

Ryan then came charging up the steps and tried to break though Leon, but Leon blocked the doorway, and sent his elbow into Ryan's side, sending Ryan falling back to the porch. Leon could hear Claire running up behind him.

"What's going on?" She asked worriedly. 

"Nothing. Don't worry. I've got things under control."

Ryan then got up and glared at Leon, his eyes turning purple. Just when Leon thought he would try to charge again, Ryan turned around and jumped off the steps, landing on the sidewalk. He gave them one last look, and then ran down the street. As he ran, Leon could swear that he saw remorse and tears in his eyes.

"He'll be back," Leon said to Claire. "He just needs some time to be by himself."

A little longer this time, _neh_? Well, I had a lot of ideas, and I wanted to cram them all into one chapter.

On a side note, I would like to thank my friends for letting me use their names for Ryan's friends. I'm sure you guys wouldn't have minded, but I was bein' polite. Oh yeah, if you're reading this, _doh jeh, _Cindy_. _You should know what for. : )

Another side note, the area of Oakton and Kenton is NOT anywhere near where I live. I just happen to know the area well.

__

Ai shiteru (I-E-shi-teh-rue)/(By the context, take a guess :)) I love you.

Achi ni ikeyo! (Ah-chi-nee-ee-keh-yoh)/Get lost!/Go away!

Isogi!(EE-so-gee)/Hurry!

__

Shikata ga nai (shi-ka-ta-ga-naie)/Literally, "It can't be helped." The most common English equivalent of this would probably be, "Shit happens."

__

Nozomi (NO-zoh-mee)/Hope, wish, desire, aspiration, ambition, etc.

__

Hentai (Hen-taie)/(Anime fans should know this one...) Pervert

__

Mien Gottimhimmel (Mean-got-eem-hee-mel)/My God in Heaven (Dutch) [The pronunciation may be wrong on this one. But then again, my foreign language in school isn't Dutch.]

__

Kowtow (COW-taow)/The deepest bow possible, it is where you get down on your knees and put your head to the ground and your hands are placed in front of you. Normally reserved for lords and people of high authority. (This was originally used by the Chinese, though, of course, it was adopted by the Japanese, and supposedly, most of the Asian world.)

CTA/**C**hicago **T**ransit **A**uthority

Draft: 6/25/01 (3:49PM)

Final: 11/19/01 (9:17AM)

__

Ja ne!


	7. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

Chapter six

In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories _Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs _and_ Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs _are also copyright by me, and may not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

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Ryan ran across the street. This time, it was a green light, so no cars had to stop from almost running into him. He passed the American War Memorial and the Oakton Park field house, and took the concrete path into the playground. He didn't notice that the path was icy in spots. As he ran, he slipped on a patch of ice. With a sudden "Whoa!" he landed on his back again, the back of his head hitting the concrete.

He cursed harshly, and then got back to his feet. He could kill for some Tylenol. Glancing around, he noticed that he hadn't gotten more than one block from his home.

He limped to a bench and sat down, dusting the snow from his pants and the bench. There he sat, for how long he didn't know. He went through two cigarettes. After he threw his second cigarette in the snow, he heard a crunching of snow nearby. Someone was coming.

He looked up toward the sound and saw two people walking toward him. When they were about fifteen feet away from him, he recognized them. Go Eun and her sister, Mi Yon, were speaking to each other in speedy, high-pitched Korean. Both were in his culinary class and were Anna's friends. Go Eun was a fluent English speaker, while her sister had only come to America about three months ago. Fortunately for Anna, Mi Yon spoke almost fluent Japanese.

They both stopped when they saw Ryan.

"_Ahn yung_, Ryan." Go Eun said.

"_Ahn yung._" Her sister said.

Both gave a slight bow. From listening to them speak with Anna, Ryan guessed that "_ahn yung_" meant hello in Korean.

"Yeah..._ahn yung_, or whatever." Ryan deadpanned.

Go Eun hesitated for a moment, and then sat down next to Ryan. "I know what happened with you and Anna."

"The whole school does, by now."

"Not exactly, though it may seem that way."

Ryan looked at her blankly. "What do you want?"

"I just want to know why you did what you did."

Ryan breathed a long breath.

"Why?" He clenched and unclenched his hands. "I panicked. I mean, how would _you_ feel if you just learned that you're going to be a parent at your age?"

Go Eun translated what had been said for her sister, and Mi Yon said something after she had finished. Go Eun then turned back around to face Ryan and said, "But that doesn't justify what you did."

"Nothing justifies what I did!" Ryan shouted. Couldn't the girls see he was despondent? "I...do you know what I've been going through for the past four days? Abuse from her! I've...I've tried to apologize to her. I've tried to reason with her. Hell, I've tried to _talk_ to her. She won't listen to me! She...she just brushes me off, or slaps me, or...something. Nothing gets through to her!"

Once again, Go Eun translated for her sister, and then spoke to Ryan. "You've got to understand that she's just--"

"Stubborn? Hard headed? Inflexible?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, looking to the side and thinking for a split second. "Also, you have to know that you've really hurt her. The last time she came to school, she was really all venom. Give her time is all I can say."

"Whatever."

Go Eun was about to translate for her sister, when Ryan told Mi Yon what had been said in Japanese. They seemed surprised that Ryan had a grasp of the language.

"So what will you do?" Mi Yon asked him in Japanese, using the Kyoto dialect.

"Stay away from her for the time being. That's just about all I can do," Ryan responded in the same language, but in a Kanto dialect.

"You aren't going to give up on her, are you?"

"Hell, I'm worried she'll give up on me."

Ryan then got up and started to leave. "I'll see you two in Mrs. Kiraly's class on Monday, eh?"

"Yeah," Go Eun said. "_Ahn yung._"

"_Ahn yung_," said Mi Yon.

Ryan then realized that "_ahn yung_" must have the same effect as "_shalom_", meaning both hello and goodbye.

"Yeah. _Ahn yung_."

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__

Later that night...

As Ryan walked down the street from the Howard CTA station, he couldn't shake the suspicion that someone was following him. He knew that this wasn't all that good a neighborhood, but he didn't exactly think he would get shot from behind. He shrugged off the feeling, and kept walking.

"You really should go back to her, Ryan."

Ryan spun around. No one was there. 

Ryan reached for his Beretta 92, which wasn't there. He cursed silently, and continued cautiously on his way.

"Seriously. I knew from the first time she saw you she was taken," the voice continued. "She would always talk about you in a way that suggested that she might have something for you."

Ryan spun around again, and, once again, found no one there.

"I think that she fell for you before you fell for her."

"Who are you?!" Ryan shouted.

"An old friend."

"Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Up here." 

Ryan looked to the bus shelter next to the train station entrance, and found a young man of about nineteen standing there. He jumped down and landed about ten feet away from Ryan.

Ryan suddenly gasped and jumped back, once he saw the face. That black hair. Those brown eyes. The clothing. It was if his worst nightmare had come true. Mark. Ryan materialized his Katana, and went into a defensive fighting stance.

"I-I k-killed you..." Ryan stammered. "I f-fuckin' k-killed you..."

"So you thought, Ryan." Mark looked at Ryan's weapon. "I'm impressed. Your powers have developed quite well, just as I expected. That's a mighty fine blade you have there."

"And I'd love to show it to you up close if I have to. Draw your weapon!"

"I didn't come here to fight." Mark said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Then what? Have you come to make fun of me or something?"

Mark casually leaned against the bus shelter. "On the contrary. I have come to tell you that you must go home. You've got to go back and see Anna."

Despite himself, Ryan lowered his guard a little. "Wh...what? How do you...?"

"That's not important. All I know is that you've got to go back home. If not to see her, then at least for a place to stay."

Ryan lowered his weapon all the way, but still kept it in his hand.

"I can't. She...she hates me."

"Not true. As I said before, she was taken the first time she saw you. And her attraction grew into love for you. The same goes for you, I know."

"How do you know if that's true?"

"Because I saw how she looked at you. I saw how you looked at her. I heard her talk. When I brought up the conversation about 'the person she met,' her eyes lit up, and I saw a small, barely visible smile. She told me only the things I needed to know, except for the last part when she said, 'I'll really hate myself for doing this to him.'"

Ryan was speechless. Could this be true?

"Even today, I'm sure she still hates herself for making you one of us. But, then again, that was one of the factors that brought you two closer together. Now, she's expressed her love for you, and is even carrying your children. She's given a piece of herself to you, and you've given a piece of yourself to her. There's no way to return that, no matter how hard you try. No matter how much it may seem she hates you, trust me. She doesn't."

All Ryan could manage was, "Damn..."

"Just go back to her. If you can't talk to her, fine. At least have a roof over your head. Be near her. Give her time to correct her mistakes."

"Yeah...you're right..." Ryan said slowly, as if suddenly realizing something. "By God, you're right."

"Now come on, kid. Get up and go..."

Ryan's vision suddenly went blurry and Mark's voice sounded strangely indistinct.

"What the...?"

"Get up, kid..."

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"Get up, kid. Do you want to freeze?"

Ryan's eyes slowly opened, and he saw a bearded man in his early fifties standing over him. He groaned and looked around. He was slumped in a corner in the bus shelter for the 97 CTA bus at the Howard station. He was using newspaper as blankets, and his forearm as a pillow. Ryan had run away from the house and needed a place to sleep, so what better place than a bus shelter?

"Mark...?"

"No. Not Mark. Now you wanna get up?"

"Urgh...a dream...? Man...it was too realistic..." Ryan muttered to himself. "Hey. You got the time?"

"Uh, yeah...10:50."

"Ten minutes until the last bus...thanks."

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"I'm really starting to worry, Chris..." Claire said to her brother. "He hasn't been back since this afternoon."

"Give him time. He'll be back."

"That's what you said two hours ago!" Claire said sternly. "If you're not gonna help me find him, then fine! I'll go myself!"

Claire went for her coat, calling for Anna, who appeared in the doorway seconds later.

"Let's go, Anna."

"Where?" 

"To look for Ryan."

Anna frowned.

"He's still not back?" Anna scoffed. "Idiot! No. I'm not going. If he doesn't have the sense to come home, then that means that he doesn't want to be found."

"What if he's hurt or something? If he's been mugged? What if he's bleeding in a gutter somewhere?"

Anna crossed her arms over her chest.

"Then good. He gets what he deserves."

Claire and Chris went wide-eyed. Did she have a shred of decency left in her? Claire had had enough with her. She fast-walked over to Anna, grabbed her roughly by the arm, and thrust her coat at her.

"What are you doing?" Anna protested.

"I've had it up to here with you, Anna! I know you're not getting along with Ryan right now, but that doesn't give you the right to wish harm on him, or worse!"

"The hell it--"

"Shut up! I'm not done with you yet!" Claire yelled, sending Sherry into the living room with Leon behind her. "You're going with me to look for him! Period! End of story!"

The front door suddenly opened, and Ryan stepped in. His eyes were emotionless blanks, his face slightly pale from the cold. He walked in, took off his jacket, and hung it up, following with his hat. He tried to walk past the gathering, but Claire reached out and stopped him. She spun him around and looked into his eyes, and embraced him tightly.

"My God, Ryan," she said, on the verge of tears. "Are you trying to scare us to death? We thought something had happened to you. Won't you call or something next time?"

"I'm sorry for going out like that. I just needed time to think."

Claire finally let go of him, and one by one everyone welcomed him home. Then there was only Anna left to give her hello. She looked somewhat relieved, but that was only shown for a split second. There was a pause from Anna, then she puffed up and nearly shouted, "You...you..._baka!_ Why the hell didn't you tell us anything? Not that I care or anything, but do you know that you had Claire and Sherry on the verge of a nervous breakdown? Why don't you use your damn head!"

Anna turned around and stalked off to her room. Ryan wore a little smile. He was pretty sure she really was worried about him, though she would never admit to it.

'I guess you're right, Mark,' Ryan thought. 'She really does still care about me.'

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By now, Anna was the only one left awake in the house. Tomorrow, she wouldn't be going to school, as Claire wanted her to take at least one day off because of her being pregnant. "Stress isn't a good thing to have in your condition," she had said. Whatever.

That, of course, could be changed on Tuesday, for she was going back to school for as long as she could. After all, she wanted to graduate with above average grades, and all that catch up work she would have to do would come back to haunt her. That, and she was a little fed up with Claire.

She had decided to stay up, partly because she wasn't that tired, but more because she had a lot on her mind. She read her yet unfinished novel, John Updike's _Rabbit Redux,_ then went on to watch TV for about an hour. It was almost one o'clock when she finally decided to go to bed.

On her way up the stairs, she heard a sound from Ryan's room. It was muffled, but audible.

"Anna..."

Anna frowned. It was Ryan's voice -- just the way it sounded...Was he masturbating?!

'I swear to God, if he's jacking off, thinking like that about me...'

Then the thought occurred to her, she could suddenly open the door and give him the most embarrassing night of his life. So, she put her hand on the doorknob, turned it quickly, and flung open the door. She stood there, hands on her hips, expecting him to have a surprised and mortified look on his face. But that wasn't what she saw.

Ryan was lying in his bed, tossing and turning, mumbling. Obviously, he was having a nightmare.

"Anna..." he called again, in the same breathless tone.

Anna tiptoed to the foot of his bed. Looking around, she noticed how much she missed his room. Sure, she had only been here a few times, but she just liked being here. It made her feel a little more at peace. She bent down to him, sat on her heels, and started listening to him.

"Please..." he mumbled, barely audible. "Don't...Anna...don't leave me...stay..."

A sudden pang of guilt hit her and went straight to her stomach. She was causing this much pain to him? The strong, unbreakable, Ryan Davidson was pining for her that much?

"Anna..." he repeated, this time louder, more desperate. "Don't go..."

She could barely see it, but she was sure it was there. A single tear came dribbling out of each eye and onto his pillow. 

She reached out with her mind and into his dreams. She was careful not to make her presence known; she just wanted to take a peek. What she saw was her, being cruel and heartless, cursing him and putting him down, turning her back on him in front of crowds of people, all of them laughing at him. He was on his hands and knees, begging like a dog, all sense of pride lost, imploring her to stay with him, not to leave him and his pathetic life.

She stopped. She couldn't take it. He was falling apart. This she could see. He wasn't showing it, and he might not even have known it, but it was happening, and it would eventually take its toll on him. 

In her psychology class, she had read about what the effects of such a thing could have on a person. It could range anywhere from total nervous suicidal breakdown, to the person closing him/herself off from the rest of the world, showing his emotions to no one for the rest of his life. Those things, and all that was in-between, weren't anything like Ryan's personality. She didn't think such a situation was possible for him, but here he was, showing all of the symptoms.

'I...can't believe how much this is hurting him...I guess that Nozomi was right...he really does...love me...' 

She looked at him again, his expression twisting into one of fear.

'How could I do something like that to a person like him?' Anna thought. Thinking back on that first year together, she realized that she had had a crush on him, nearly from the start. 'Never thought he'd have a crush on me, though.' She had never been popular; she had always put people at a distance. Of course, she had changed before she had met him, but still...

'What does he see in me?' During her more introspective moments, she wondered if she even really deserved someone like Ryan, someone so kind and caring, so sure of himself. 'When he isn't being an ass...' Anna thought ruefully.

She looked at him again, and his expression once again twisted with anxiety.

"No..." he breathed, sounding like a helpless child. "Please..."

Anna placed her hand on his head and he seemed to calm down a little. His expression melted, and he stopped tossing and turning.

"It's okay, Ryan," she whispered. "Sleep. Dream good dreams. I can't...I can't forgive you, or myself, yet, but I will, soon. So just give me some time, okay?"

"...Time..." he mumbled.

"Good night, Ryan."

She then gave him a peck of a kiss on the forehead and got up to leave. Just after she took a few steps, he mumbled something else.

"I love you..."

Her heart jumped into her throat and butterflies started to swarm in her stomach. She stopped, shut her eyes tight, and left his room. She softly closed the door, and then rested her forehead against it.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered.

A tear slid down her face and dropped onto the carpeted floor. She leaned against the door, and the tears started to stream out. She slid down the door, sobbing. Within a few seconds, she sat with her back to his door, breaking down like she never had before. It was one thing to have her think that he hated her, but it was another to realize that he really didn't, that all the crap she put him through was simply torture for him, and that she still needed time to think about what to do.

That, and the realization that she loved him.

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Just down the hall, out of vision of their mother, Adrian and Nozomi were watching the scene unfold before them. When they heard their father mutter "I love you" in his sleep, and then after they saw their mother's reaction, they couldn't help but to give each other high fives. After all, they were so close to getting their parents back together. After awhile, Anna eventually went back to her own room.

"So she finally came to the realization, huh?" Adrian said.

"Uh-huh. _Okaa-san_ is finally taking the steps on her own."

The two walked down the hall, towards their mother's room.

"So how long do you think it will be?" Nozomi asked her brother.

"Oh, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say...a little over a month?"

Nozomi smiled.

"Can't wait."

Then, like specters, they walked through the wall to their mother's room.

****

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__

Five weeks later...

The tension between Anna and Ryan had been going on for a long time. The first week, there had been silence and Anna had spent a night or two crying. The rest of the time, they had pretty much gotten along, but neither of them had admitted to being sorry. On the second day of the fifth week, and after much encouragement from her unborn children, Adrian and Nozomi, and a little rational thought, Anna decided to end the fighting.

She would apologize to Ryan for the weeks of treating him so badly. Ryan would apologize again for starting this whole mess in the first place. It was time for her to forgive him, and for him to forgive her. For now, though, she needed to relax at Café Express.

It was 1:30 on a Friday afternoon. She hadn't been to school for the past month, due to her pregnancy. She wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible, telling Ryan to tell anyone that asked that she was very ill and would be out for a long time. She wasn't behind in her schoolwork, thanks to Ryan, who had also managed to cut a deal with her teachers to give her a lighter load of homework. But she still missed her swimming team.

As she walked in the door, she attracted a few stares from the customers, but thought nothing of it. She wore a long royal blue sundress with spaghetti straps and had tied up her hair.

She placed her order at the counter and waited.

'_Something doesn't seem right..._' she heard the voice of Nozomi say.

She glanced over to her left and saw the little girl looking at her, wearing pig tails and the same white dress with red flowers. When this had first happened to her a month or so ago, she was quite surprised, but she found out that she and Ryan were the only ones who could see Nozomi and Adrian when they appeared, and that they could respond in thought as well as speech.

'What is it, Nozo-chan?'

'_I...don't know how I can explain it...something just seems wrong...'_

'It's probably nothing.'

'_I bet you're right. Just my imagination, _neh?'

'_Yeah, sis is just getting delusional again,' _Anna heard Adrian say. He stood over to her right, his arms crossed over his chest, grinning.

'_Stop it!_'

'_Delusional! You're delusional! You're gonna need a shrink!_'

'_Shut up, Adrian!_'

'Stop it, both of you!' Anna shouted in thought/speech, inwardly smiling. 'Don't say that again, Nozomi!'

'Gomen, Okaa-san.' Nozomi said. She then bowed and disappeared.

'Don't treat your sister like that, Adrian.'

'_Yeah, yeah..._'

God, he's so like his father! Anna thought, then to her son,

'Don't "yeah, yeah" me. _Wakata ka_?'

'_You can speak English you know_.'

'_WA--KA--TA--KA?!_'

'Hai! Hai! Wakarimasu, okaa-san! _Can I go now_?'

'Yes, but don't you go bothering your sister, or else.'

Adrian mumbled something and then vanished from Anna's vision.

'Those two...' she thought. 'Such a handful...and they're not even born yet.'

Anna smiled. Taking care of her kids was a tough job, but at least she could implement this "training" when they became five or so. Something told her that she would definitely need it. 

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Ryan and Sherry had just walked into the kitchen, quite worn out by their basketball game.

"You played pretty well, Share," Ryan complemented.

"What do you mean? I was the worst on the team! I hardly scored a single basket!"

"So what? Some people are only good at D, and others are only good at O. How many times did you steal the ball? How many shots did you block?"

"...A lot."

"There you go."

Ryan opened the fridge and rummaged through it.

"How about a hard lemonade?" he offered.

"What's a hard lemonade?"

"Dunno. I guess that it's just a really powerful, really sour lemonade."

Sherry smiled and rubbed her hands.

"Sure."

They both took a glass bottle, and twisted off the cap. 

"Bottoms up," Sherry said as they took a drink.

As soon as the liquid touched their tongues, they both started spitting it out.

"What...what the...hell is...this?!" Sherry gasped between gags.

"Hard! It's alcohol!" Ryan exclaimed.

It suddenly occurred to them what the "hard" in hard lemonade stood for. 

"Ugh..." Ryan said. "I'm throwin' this away."

They both went into the back alley and threw the bottles into the dumpsters, and listened to them shattering to tiny little bits.

"Next time, why don't you actually read the label?" Sherry said.

Ryan gave a grumbled response, and they started to walk back inside.

"You know," Sherry told him when they reached the back door, "you should really think of getting back with Anna."

Ryan froze in place and turned to Sherry. He looked saddened.

"No," he said. "We've been getting along on slightly better terms lately. I won't screw this up now that we're so close. It would be safer for her to make the first move."

"I bet that she's waiting for you to make the first move. I don't know if you know this or not, but I can hear you sometimes silently cry yourself to sleep."

Ryan went on the defensive. "I-I-I'm just practicing for the drama classes!"

"Then why do you constantly mutter Anna's name when you're 'practicing', and even do the same when you're sleeping? And since when did you take up drama classes?"

  
Ryan had no answer for that.

"Look, everyone in the household, both Anna's friends and yours know that you love each other. Why not take a chance?"

"Because it could set her off again. I'm not going to lose her for another five weeks!"

"I don't think that'll happen. Just try it. If she really does flip out, I'll convince her that I was the one who put you up to it."

Ryan remained silent, listening to the afternoon sounds of summer. He seemed to be in a sort of trance, looking off into the distance, as if he were trying to recall a long lost memory.

"I...I do love her. That's why I _don't_ want to endanger this relationship."

Sherry was beginning to get frustrated. Had he been listening to a word she was saying?

"That's _why_ you need to try! I hate to say it, but her being pregnant has made her somewhat emotionally vulnerable. This is the best time that you can get on her good side. Besides, she's going to be too busy taking care of...what will be their names?"

"If I remember correctly, she wanted our daughter named Nozomi. I picked Adrian for our son. Ha! I can't believe I actually said that. Son! Daughter! Ha!"

"Right. So, what are you going to do?"

Ryan thought for a moment.

"All right," he said. "I'll take you up on your suggestion. I just hope it works."

"Good. It makes me glad to see you two so happy with each other."

"I thought you were jealous."

Sherry flushed with embarrassment. "That...that was a long time ago. Personally...I thought that she was going to take you away from me or something."

  
"What? She wouldn't do something like that. You and I both know that. Besides, you're my little sis. I wouldn't let something like that happen."

Sherry smiled. "Where did sis come from?"

"Dunno. I just consider you my little sister." Ryan then gave her a wide grin. "Got a problem with that?"

A little giggle bubbled out of Sherry as he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder.

"No. Of course not."

"Good, 'cause I always wanted a little sister to boss around."

"Hey!"

Sherry playfully punched him in the shoulder, and they both chuckled as they walked inside.

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He was first suspicious of the fact that Anna was coming in to the Café more often, and so he got himself a job there. Though he couldn't deal with the thought of working at a place that wouldn't call on any of his advanced abilities, he needed to get his revenge, no matter what the cost.

It took awhile, but he soon found out she was carrying the children of Ryan Davidson. Just having one half-Seraph was enough -- even though by his calculations it wouldn't matter if the child was half human or not; the full effects of the Seraph powers would be passed on -- but the thought of the first full natural-born Seraph sent pangs of joy through him. He never thought that Anna would be so irresponsible as to start a family at such a young age, but he saw it as probably the greatest thing he could ask for. Not only did it make getting his revenge somewhat easier, it gave him the opportunity to obtain a rare specimen. No one knew what would happen when a Seraph was crossed with two types of Elements, especially opposing ones. 

He decided to wait until the fifth week to try anything, and judging by his calendar, it was time. But when will she come in?

"Excuse me," came a female voice. "Can I please have a hot chocolate? Extra syrup please. Oh, and I'd also like five lemon knots with that."

When he heard the voice, he turned from the counter with a smile he couldn't suppress.

Another counter person took her order, then Anna went for the women's washroom.

When the hot chocolate was finished, he took out a vial he had been hiding, and made sure no one was watching. The vial contained a black liquid that was odorless, and tasteless, at least to a human. A Seraph could notice the difference. But if she takes just one sip, isn't that enough?

He quickly poured the liquid into the glass, and stirred it into the hot chocolate. It was black at first, but it soon changed to the color of the chocolate. He almost tasted the spoon, but stopped himself just in time. And waited.

Anna came out of the washroom soon after, and took her drink. He made sure to hide his smiling face from her until she was at her table.

'Any minute now...' he thought with glee.

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Anna came to the counter and paid for her drink. She walked over to the spice bar, chose cinnamon, and shook a little into her drink. Picking up the cup, she made her way between the tables at the far end of the Café and slowly sat down, then she withdrew a book from her backpack and started reading.

After a few minutes of letting her hot chocolate cool down, she took a sip. It was slightly bitter, but it didn't make that much of a difference to her. After a few more minutes of reading, the words in her book began to look a little blurry. Anna adjusted her glasses, but found that it simply got worse. A feeling of nausea mixed with drowsiness overcame her.

She got up to walk, but found that she didn't have the strength to.

'_Mom!' _She heard Adrian exclaim in dread_. 'What's wrong?!'_

She fell to the floor. Her vision was clear enough to see the faces of people crowding over her, and when she found that she was looking at probably the last person she wanted to see, she wanted to scream. Though he had his hair cut a bit and he seemed to have had a little plastic surgery, his identity was undeniable. It was Dr. Jared Vickers. 

She wanted to scream to get the man away from her, to arrest him, that he was a mad scientist who was bent on killing off most of the human population.

But she couldn't. She was too drugged to even speak. Her eyes slowly closed and the darkness overcame her.

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Chris checked his watch. It was 5:38. Anna was three hours late. He glanced over at the people in the room. 

Leon and Claire were keeping straight faces, but Chris could sense their unease. Sherry was drumming her fingers on the table top. Ryan was pacing back and forth, stopping once in a while to attempt a mental link with Anna. He couldn't connect, so he continued pacing around the room, not knowing what to do. Finally, he stopped and shouted in frustration,

"Where the hell is she?!"

"Calm down!" Chris said. "Shouting won't help anything!"

Ryan growled, and seemed to go into deep thought.

"Hey!" Leon said suddenly, upon realizing something. "Doesn't Anna go to that Café in Evanston all the time?"

Everyone bolted for the door. They didn't need to be convinced of a better place to look for her.

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When they arrived at the Café, it was just starting to close, due to something that had happened earlier. When they asked the owner what had happened, he had explained that a pretty pregnant girl, who was one of his regular customers, had suddenly collapsed on the floor. Ryan almost jumped over the counter.

"Where did she go?" he asked in a very controlled voice.

The owner looked scared, and was reluctant to answer. When Ryan sensed this, his eyes flared up with a wild rage and he almost grabbed the owner by the collar, just as he had done to the senior at school a few weeks ago, when the adults had restrained him.

"Control yourself, Ryan!" Claire said. "I know you're worried about her, but you have to calm down!"

Ryan's rage slowly subsided, and then he asked the question again, in a much calmer manner. Once again the owner hesitated, but he answered.

"One uh my workers," he offered in a hesitant, thick 1920's Chicago accent. "Said 'e would uh...take 'er ta da nearest hospital, ta save som' time."

"Do you know what made her collapse?" Claire asked.

"Na, sorry."

"Which hospital did he say he was going to?"

"'E didn't say."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"'Ey! I'm positive. My mem'ry ain't 'dat bad."

Ryan cursed silently.

"We could go home and call the police for all the nearest hospitals," Leon offered.

"Let's do it," Ryan said. "Quickly."

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The group had walked through the door, and Ryan went ahead of the others to pick up the phone.

__

Riiiiinnnnggggg!

The sound made everyone jump. They stared at the phone as if it were a prop in a cheesy horror movie. Chris was the one to finally pick it up.

  
"Yes?...Hold on," he said into the phone. "Ryan. For you."

Ryan walked over to Chris and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ryan." It was a familiar voice in an ominous tone.

"Who is this?"

"My, you have such a bad memory. Don't you remember me?"

"No! Stop playing games. Unless you know where a certain someone is, I don't have time for you."

"Oh, but I do."

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"You're looking for Anna, yes?"

"Where is she?! Who are you?!"

"Think back to Carlton."

Ryan went into thought. The only other person that he could think of besides Anna and the house crew was Mark, and he was dead. So that left--

"Vickers!" Ryan seethed though clenched teeth. 

"Correct."

"What have you done to her?"

"Nothing yet. Not for long, though."

"You place a hand on her, and I'll tear off your balls and feed them to the CPD's K-9 unit!"

Vickers gave a menacing laugh. "Why don't you try me, Davidson?" he mocked. "Why don't you come to rescue your damsel in distress? Why don't you show me what my greatest creation can do?"

"You bastard! YOU'RE DEAD! I SWEAR IT ON MY NAME!"

Vickers ignored his outburst. "There is a cell phone and GPS in your mail box. Take it and I will lead you to where I am."

Ryan wasn't going to let Vickers have the satisfaction of hanging up on him, so he slammed down the receiver. Ryan could feel the electricity flowing through his arms, sparking in his hand.

  
"Who was it?" Sherry asked.

"Vickers." 

"Who?"

"The man who made me what I currently am. The man who made me his lab rat!"

"Dr. Vickers...?" Chris slowly asked. "That guy that we never met in Carlton?"

"Yeah. He's taken Anna. I've got to get her back..."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Sherry said. "Let's get going!"

Everyone split up into separate directions to get ready, except for Ryan and Claire. When they were alone, Claire spoke.

"You love her, don't you, Ryan?" Claire asked in a very serious tone.

Ryan looked away, his eyes squinting a little, and thought of something to avoid her question.

"He said he placed a cell phone and GPS in our mail box. Once we get that, he'll guide us to the labs."

"Answer me, Ryan."

He gave a mumbled response, and Claire knew that she would get nothing else out of him.

"I'm gonna go help Leon get the equipment ready," Claire said. "Please. Wait for us, okay?"

Ryan then looked down at his fist, bursting with electricity. Without warning, he pointed a fist toward a window, and a bolt of electricity leapt forth, surprising Claire a bit. The bolt vanished with no physical effect on the window, but it rattled the window frame a little. He would have his way with Dr. Vickers.

No matter what.

****

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Claire could still hear the rattle of the window in her mind. She was on her way to help Leon with the gear, when she stopped to talk with Chris. He was checking his sidearm.

"This isn't good," she whispered.

Chris gave her a blank look. "Yeah, no shit."

Claire put a hand on his arm. "I've never seen Ryan like this. Who knows what he's capable of?"

He fastened his shoulder holster and shrugged. "We've dealt with crazy stuff before."

"Not like this," she pressed. She stole a backward glance toward the other room, but it was silent. She turned back to her brother. "We don't really know what he can do. We don't really know what either of them can do. And those children?"

Chris watched her for a moment, then blurted: "That's really what's bothering you, isn't it? The kids."

Claire hugged her arms and paused thoughtfully. She looked down at her feet. "I think they should have been more careful. I don't think they're ready to be parents." She raised her head and locked eyes with him quickly. "But, God, Chris -- those babies have nothing to do with this. I don't want Ryan to do anything stupid, but it this Vickers has done anything to hurt those babies, I swear--!" Her voice hitched.

Chris forced a smile that he didn't quite feel. "Don't worry, Auntie Claire. We'll find Anna."

She stared over his shoulder and tried to see Ryan. "He really cares about her," she murmured. "I think he even loves her." She paused again, and a look of deep-rooted fear crossed her face. "Chris, what if..."

He craned his neck to look at her. "Come on," he said, and she looked at him again. "We don't have much time. Go help Leon."

She nodded, then turned and was away.

Chris patted his sidearm, and went back to the living room to collect Ryan.

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Chris watched as Ryan stared at the wall, constantly clenching and un-clenching his fist, speaking to himself in Japanese.

__

'He's got to be really pissed...I know that I couldn't understand how he feels..._'_

Ryan then took a deep breath and stopped his previous action, but kept on speaking. He then sat down on the couch and, with a deep sigh, ran his hands though his hair in an attempt to control his rage.

__

'He's using all his self-control to keep his anger inside,' Chris thought. _'_Don't worry, kid, we'll find Anna. She'll be okay. Then you two raise a family together, and all will be right with your world.'

Even though Chris thought those words, he had to admit that he doubted himself.

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Dr. Vickers stared long and hard at his subject. Anna Yamaguchi. When she was awake, she was attractive, yes; but when she was asleep, words could not describe her.

Vickers studied her every curve and body structure, and sighed. 'She is such a prime example of human -- no, Seraphim magnificence...' He thought. 'Such a waste to defect to the wrong side. To the side of the..._humans_...' Vickers snorted at the last word in his thought.

They were in an operating room, and she was strapped to a table so she couldn't have moved even if she were awake. It was several minutes before she awoke, grumbling.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Ms. Dav--, I mean, Yamaguchi."

Her eyes shot open, and she tried to move, finding it impossible. She was in restraints. She grunted in anger, then realized who was standing at her side.

"Vickers? What the hell are you doing here?"

"To get revenge on you and that Davidson. You both killed my finest creation, _and_ destroyed my labs! My virus research!"

"So? You deserved it! You're a crazed psychopath working for a company that makes trillions on the suffering of innocent people every year, and you always manage to cover up its dirty work! Work that goes far beyond human standards. Playing God! Much like you are now!"

Vickers cocked his head to the side.

"Me? God? I never quite thought of it that way..."

"What do you want with me?"

Vickers moved in close and touched her stomach. Horrified, Anna flinched from his fingers and tried to move away, but she couldn't.

"Because of this, Anna. Do you know that you are carrying the first natural born Seraphs? You should consider this an honor. You're making history."

  
"You'll _be_ history once Ryan gets here," Anna seethed.

"You're counting on him? Ha! If he even makes it here!"

"You seem to forget that he's a Seraph, and you're just a simple little man."

"You seem to not realize that there is a certain chemical I released into the ventilation system that will keep him from using his Seraph powers," Vickers said, smiling. "Oh, and the same goes for you, if you would notice."

Anna tried to concentrate and use some acid to melt the straps keeping her to the table, but there was a mental block in the way. No matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't get anything to happen.

"See?" he said.

Vickers then cupped her head in his hand. "Such beauty..." he commented as if he were in a trace.

"Get your hand off ME!"

Vickers complied. When he did, she spit in his face.

"Well then," he said, reaching for a cloth in his lab jacket. "Let's get down to business."

He wiped his face clean of the saliva, then walked over to Anna, and placed his face point-blank with hers. There he stood for a few moments, until he placed his mouth on hers, and attempted to stick his tongue down her throat. Anna tried to resist, but found that she couldn't. When he had finished, Anna gagged and spit off to the side.

"You sick son of a..."

"You should feel lucky, Anna. I could share you with my whole entire staff, but I decided to save you for myself."

He then groped her breast in his hand. Anna felt a sickening feeling wash over her. She suddenly noticed how vulnerable she was.

"Let's have a little fun, eh?" he said with a sadistic smile.

"Get away from me!" she hissed.

Vickers simply ignored her and kept at what he was doing. Anna closed her eyes tightly and screamed as she was forced to endure the most frightening experience of her life.

****

Author's note: Yes, Dr. Vickers is a sick twisted bastard. That's the way I wanted him to come across as. I kinda didn't want to write about what he did to Anna, but in my mind, it felt like it had to be done. I apologize to anyone how may be offended by it. Let me assure you that I feel that people who do things like this either need serious help, or need to be taken care of all together.

By the way, sorry this took so long, but my editors and I were very busy.

And a _komah wah yo_ to Go Eun and Mi Yon for letting me use their names. It saved me about thirty minutes plus thinking up names. That and they just sound cool. :)

__

Go eun Kim (KO-uhn-khim)/Korean name

Mi Yon Kim (ME-youn-khim)/Korean name

Ahn yung (Said as exactly as it is spelled. Place a stress on the 'ung' part of 'yung', and the 'g' sound is cut a little short)/Depending on situation, it can mean, "Hello" or "Good bye." If you add a "haseyo" (HAH-say-yo) to it, then it becomes more polite.) (Korean)

Gomen (Go-mehn)/A simple way to say "Sorry" in Japanese

Baka (BA-kah)/Idiot, fool 

Wakata (WA-ka-tah)/[do you] Understand? (A more "superior" way to say "Wakarimasu" (Do you understand?). DO NOT use it with people who are older, or of higher-status than you.)

__

Draft: 6/30/01 (9:02PM)

Final: 3/14/02 (8:26PM)

__

Ja matta ne!


	8. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil  
  
   
  
Children of the Seraphs  
  
By: Xenogears  
  
   
  
1 Chapter seven  
  
  
  
In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs and Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs are also copyright of me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.  
  
   
  
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Ryan picked up the cell phone and GPS from the mailbox, and checked his weapons. He had his three pistols, and an MP5A3 concealed in a suitcase he was carrying. Everyone was carrying their own weaponry too, and anything big like a shotgun or a grenade launcher was hidden in a suitcase. He wore his hooded sweatshirt tied around his waist because of the seventy-degree June weather, but he didn't seem to mind.  
  
The cell phone rang suddenly, and he answered.  
  
  
  
"Go to the Skokie Lagoons," Vickers said. "I'll direct you to the exact location, but for now go to the lagoons."  
  
  
  
"How do you know where I am?"  
  
  
  
"I'm using a GPS. Now go."  
  
  
  
"I swear, if you did anything to her, I will kill you so slowly, you'll be begging me to end your pain."  
  
  
  
"I gave you no promise of her personal safety. Better hurry if you want to help her..." Vickers taunted with a chuckle.  
  
  
  
"I'm gonna tear you limb from bloody Godforsaken limb!"  
  
  
  
Ryan crushed the "off" button, and took the driver's seat.  
  
  
  
"Ryan," Claire said. "Let me drive."  
  
  
  
"No."  
  
  
  
"Look, you're in emotional distress. You might cause an accident or something."  
  
  
  
"I'll drive carefully." His voice was tense and measured.  
  
  
  
Ryan pulled the car out slowly enough, but hit top gear once he was on the road.  
  
  
  
"I thought you said you would drive carefully?!" Leon shouted.  
  
  
  
"Trust me," Sherry commented. "He is."  
  
  
  
'Dammit,' Ryan cursed. 'I'm so sorry, Anna, I'm so sorry for not being with you...just hold on. I promise I'll get to you...and I'll kill that bastard...'  
  
  
  
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Ryan kept all of his concentration on driving. He was careful to slow down at cop "hot spots," but the rest of the time he sped down the road as fast as he could while still controlling the car.  
  
When they reached the Skokie Lagoons, they were given another call from Vickers. The Skokie Lagoons weren't really lagoons at all; they were simply natural forest preserves with small lakes and a river running through.  
  
When he parked the car, Vickers called him again and gave him directions through the forest.  
  
  
  
"From your position," Vickers said. "Walk five hundred paces to the right, and then keep going left until you reach a river."  
  
  
  
Everyone followed his directions and ended up at the river.  
  
  
  
"Now, from here," Vickers said, "cross the river and then go seven-hundred and fifty paces to the north. You'll end up at a large tree."  
  
  
  
After continuing in their heads for some time, Ryan began to count out loud.  
  
  
  
"Six hundred three...six hundred four..." he counted with each of his steeps.  
  
  
  
"Ryan, slow down," Sherry called to him.  
  
  
  
Ryan then threw his hands up in frustration.  
  
  
  
"Shit. You made me lose count. Back to the river, everybody!"  
  
  
  
And once again, they followed the directions to the letter, and found themselves at the large tree. There was a sudden clanging noise, and the tree slid to the side, revealing a passageway that led down.  
  
The passage was well lit, so they didn't have much trouble moving around. At the bottom of the passage was a metallic door, which opened when they approached it. What they saw surprised them.  
  
They had expected to see the usual from Umbrella: a lab that was made almost completely of a steel-like substance. What they found was what one might expect at a fancy airport hotel -- a furnished hotel lobby done in deep reds and golds, with a mezzanine beyond.  
  
  
  
"What the hell...?" Chris said out loud.  
  
  
  
"Ah!"  
  
  
  
Without warning, Ryan fell to the floor clutching his head.  
  
  
  
"What's wrong, Ryan?" Claire asked.  
  
  
  
"My head...it hurts...like a bitch..."  
  
  
  
Ryan gave another grunt of pain, and then attempted to regain his balance. With the help of Chris, he was able to get back on his feet. But something didn't feel right, Ryan noted. His senses reverted to those of a normal human's, and he could no longer feel electricity around him. As a test, he concentrated and punched his fist forward, but nothing came out. He tried again, concentrating harder -- still nothing.  
  
  
  
"My Seraph powers are...gone!" Ryan groaned.  
  
  
  
"How do you know?" Leon asked.  
  
  
  
"I just know!"  
  
  
  
Suddenly, there was a hissing noise behind them and the door that they had used to enter the room was closed shut. Leon and Claire ran over to try to unlock it, but a loud blare from unseen loudspeakers stopped them.  
  
  
  
"It won't do you any good to try and open that door," the voice boomed. "It's sealed."  
  
  
  
Ryan recognized Dr. Vickers's voice.  
  
  
  
"Let us go further," Ryan said into the ceiling.  
  
  
  
"Let me think..." mocked Vickers. "Ummmmm...No. If you want to go on, then you must pass some tests I have designed for you."  
  
  
  
There was another hissing noise, this time from the second floor of the room, and footsteps approached.  
  
  
  
"I believe you met this kind of B.O.W. in Bhrams," said Vickers. "Let's see how you do against the Golem!"  
  
  
  
Leon and Claire instantly recognized the figure that was stepping onto the mezzanine from a side entryway. It was a direct copy of the Silver Blood monster, but smaller. The muscular silver skin shone brightly in the light of the fake room, and their mouths showed their razor sharp teeth on their eyeless faces. They were horrified when three more came into view.  
  
  
  
"Spread out!" Chris ordered.  
  
  
  
Everyone quickly drew their best weapon and spread around the large open room, Chris with his AK-47, Leon with his Desert Eagle, Claire with her grenade launcher, Sherry with her two M-100P's, and Ryan with his MP5A3.  
  
  
  
"A hairy predicament we got going on here, huh?" Claire commented, her back to Leon, as the Golems started to close in on them.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Dr. Vickers looked at the monitors with a mixture of disappointment and exhilaration. The Golems were impressive creatures, but if this small team could defeat them, then they could not be deemed good enough to be used as guards. Still, there was more than one B.O.W. to deal with in the complex.  
  
  
  
'I would like to see how they handle the Craws...' he thought.  
  
  
  
"Very impressive," Vickers spoke into the microphone. "Please, move on to the next challenge."  
  
  
  
He pressed a button, and a pair of doors opened across the room from the visitors. He checked his watch.  
  
  
  
'Hmmm...' He thought with a smile. 'Perhaps I should go back to "check up" on Anna?'  
  
  
  
Yes, that's exactly what he'd do.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Chris tried to think of some way he could get them out of this without too much gunfire, but that thought was as quickly shot down as it was brought up. So, without too many options left, he switched his AK-47 to a three- shot burst, and aimed it at head level. He could take out at least one with a headshot.  
  
  
  
PowPowPow!  
  
  
  
After the shots were fired, one Golem lay on the ground dead, but the other three ran in separate directions around the room with remarkable speed.  
  
Chris cursed, and looked around. He moved from his position just in time before a knee came crashing down in the place where he had just been standing. Judging by the direction the Golem had come from, it had aimed for his head.  
  
Chris aimed to retaliate, but just as he was about to fire, the Golem had disappeared, and Claire was in his sights. He relaxed his aim, and allowed himself a moment of relief before returning his attention to the battle. Once again, the Golem came down onto the floor knee first, intent on crushing Chris' skull, and it had just as quickly retreated. He traced the passing blur to the upstairs balcony.  
  
  
  
'Hit and run, eh?' Chris thought. 'That's a serious offense, boys.'  
  
  
  
Chris waited for the Golem to jump down once more, and followed it with his eyes to the balcony.  
  
He laid a spread fire in the area it had retreated to, and a loud hiss was heard. A moment later, the Golem lurched out from behind its hiding place, fell over the railing to the first floor and landed with a dull thud. It was still moving, slowly rising from the floor. Chris could count seven holes in its chest, and one just inches from its right kneecap. He didn't even bother to marvel at its endurance, and simply emptied the rest of his magazine into the monster, sending it to the floor once again.  
  
His concern mounted when he found it was still breathing. Chris withdrew his Glock 17 and quickly fired two magazines into it before he had registered that it had died from excessive blood loss.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Leon's eyes were fast enough to keep up with the creature, but his reflexes weren't as good as his eyes, so he found himself having a hard time hitting his mark. So far, he had counted that he had wasted seven out of eight rounds, and only one .50 caliber bullet had lodged itself in the Golem's abdomen. The creature was still running.  
  
Leon paused to reload, and he suddenly found something powerful hitting him in the stomach. He fell several feet backward and tried to recover as quickly as he could. Judging by what the Golems had been capable of in Bhrams, he was surprised that his entire gut hadn't collapsed from the blow.  
  
The Golem came at him with running strides, and with every bit of effort he had left Leon wrenched his body to the side.  
  
Just a second later, there was a roar, and Leon looked over to the Golem to see that its entire left leg had been blown away. Claire was holding a grenade launcher pointed at the Golem. The Golem actually managed to stay on one foot and jump away, only to come back for Leon. By this time Leon was on his feet again and he dodged, making the Golem retreat once again. It was considerably slower, but still quick. But Leon had just enough time to replace the empty magazine and load a bullet into the empty chamber.  
  
When the Golem came back again, it was met with an onslaught of .50 caliber rounds from Leon, and .38 caliber rifle fire from Claire.  
  
It fell to the ground, gravely injured. Leon pointed his Desert Eagle at the Golem's head and fired, finishing it off.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
As Ryan soon found out, fully- and even semi-automatic sub machine guns were not his forte. He had counted less than ten bullets out of 64 -- two magazines -- had hit the Golem. What infuriated him even more, was that they were only 9mm bullets. If they were 5.56mm's, then he thought that the thing would be rolling on the ground by now. Even Sherry with her M-100P's was having trouble. He cursed as he withdrew his/Anna's Colt .45.  
  
As he could tell, the Golem had no trouble at all moving around, and loved to do so: it would jump around a few times, usually five, and then come rushing in at Ryan, so it kept him on his toes.  
  
After the fifth shot he fired, he hit the Golem in a kneecap while in mid- flight, sending it crashing to the ground.  
  
There were mixed sounds of gunfire and the Golem shook as its body was riddled with bullets -- and even one napalm grenade -- from the others. It gave one last violent shudder, and then fell silent.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
The next room wasn't what they had expected. A large lit warehouse filled with crates and boxes piled up at least twenty feet high. Leon recognized it immediately as the Hunter room back at the Bhrams labs.  
  
  
  
"Everyone," he said, his voice a whisper. "Watch out. If it's anything like what I encountered in Bhrams, there are probably Hunters in here..."  
  
  
  
"Wha?" Ryan said nervously. "Y-you're kidding...right?"  
  
  
  
"Sorry, Ryan, but no."  
  
  
  
They readied their weapons. Leon his Desert Eagle Magnum; Claire her grenade launcher loaded with shrapnel rounds; Ryan his Colt .45; Chris his AK-47; and Sherry her Colt Python.  
  
They stood in a back-to-back formation, waiting for any sign of trouble. After a few tense moments, Sherry spoke up.  
  
  
  
"Are you sure there's even anything in here?" She said, her guard temporarily down. "I mean, look around. I don't see anything."  
  
  
  
"Don't bet on it," Chris said. "If I know Hunters, they're pretty quiet until they want to strike. That can be anywhere between five seconds to five minutes."  
  
  
  
A sound came from one corner of the room. Everyone's hearts jumped out of their throats, and they almost fired at the sound, until they found it was just a canister hitting the floor. Then again, it couldn't be just the wind.  
  
Then came the bone-shaking cry of a hunter. It was followed by six more, and then the beings jumped out from behind the boxes. They were unlike any Hunters that they had encountered before. They possessed seven arms –- three to each side, one on the back -- along with one large eye in the center of their foreheads and a large, gaping mouth that resembled a pelican. They still had the standard characteristics of a Hunter, though: green, scaly skin; long, sharp claws; and that unmistakable cry.  
  
  
  
"These apparently aren't our ordinary everyday freaks," Leon remarked.  
  
  
  
"Since when are they 'ordinary?'" Chris replied sarcastically.  
  
  
  
Everyone raised their weapons at the creatures and fired. Leon was sure that a few of them were hit, but they didn't even seem to realize it, for they just jumped high into the air, and latched themselves onto the ceiling.  
  
Leon adjusted his aim, only to find that they were gone. He scanned the room with his Desert Eagle, a sickening panic rising from the pit of his stomach.  
  
A blur of movement to the right. A blur of movement to the left. A blur of movement right in front of him.  
  
  
  
"Hit the deck!" Leon shouted.  
  
  
  
He said it just in time, for he saw the Hunters fly past where they had been standing, and saw their claws crash into the wall. All six of the Hunters were busy trying to get their appendages out of the concrete wall.  
  
Leon fired his Desert Eagle into the closest one to him, hitting it squarely in the back. This time, it cried in pain, a large gaping hole in its back. But that's all it did. A shot like that, maybe one more, would have most likely killed a normal Hunter, but this one was still busying itself with its arm.  
  
Just as Leon was about to fire again, Claire shouted "Fire in the hole!" and a shrapnel grenade went flying past him into the wounded creature, exploding in the hole that Leon had created. It screamed again, this time a gargling cry, and once again continued to try and get its claw out of the wall, but it seemed to loose all its strength, and fell limp. Leon was sure it was only because the shrapnel had punctured a few vital organs. He looked over to Claire and gave her a nod. She returned it with a smile.  
  
He looked over to the others, and saw them busy with the other Hunters.  
  
There were only three of them left, and they had dislodged their claws from the wall.  
  
Two of the creatures were slowly walking towards them, as if they were enjoying watching them struggle. Leon took one, and fired off a shot. It hit its target, but the Hunter simply staggered a bit, then started to pick up its pace. Leon fired again, this time hitting it in the lower abdomen. The creature stumbled once again, and gave a cry of anger once it regained his balance.  
  
  
  
'Come on,' Leon thought desperately. 'Die you--'  
  
  
  
Click.  
  
  
  
He had heard the unmistakable sound many times in his life, but never before had it seemed so loud as it did now. His magazine was empty. Deciding to scold himself for not reloading later, he dropped his Desert Eagle, and reached for his SPAS 12 that was slung over his shoulder.  
  
  
  
'All right, now,' Leon thought. 'Be loaded with slugs, not 12 ought buck...'  
  
  
  
Leon perched the gun in a head firing position, resting the stock against his shoulder, and waited for the Hunter to close in. He knew that he would have to be quick, for Hunters had a tendency to jump attack. If he went too soon, the creature would simply adjust its aim. If he was too slow, he'd be cut in half.  
  
He watched its movements closely, waiting for the proper moment. He then saw the Hunter hunch bring its right claws back. He took that moment to run and dive forward. He saw it go overhead, and gave quick thanks to God. Just as he was about to stop sliding, he turned his body around and pulled the trigger.  
  
  
  
BLAM! Cachunk.  
  
  
  
The creature was hit by the 12-gauge slug in the right leg before it landed, and thus, fell forward. Leon got up and started to walk toward the Hunter, pulling the trigger every few steps. Once he was point blank and the Hunter was uselessly clawing at him for blowing off its legs, Leon stopped.  
  
  
  
"See you in hell, you freakin' abnormality."  
  
  
  
BLAM! Cahunk.  
  
  
  
The slug tore right into its throat, and it gave one last gargle that Leon took as a cry, and it fell silent.  
  
Leon looked over to the second Hunter, who just fell to the floor, punctured with various gunshot wounds all over its body.  
  
Leon was about to get his gun and give the signal to go when Ryan spoke up.  
  
  
  
"Uh, hey," he said nervously. "Wasn't there one more?"  
  
  
  
Everyone's eyes went wide. Leon started to reload his shotgun, while the rest were busy looking around.  
  
After a few moments, when they started to calm down a little, there was a sudden, high-pitched cry, and Ryan gave a yelp of surprise. Leon snapped his attention over to Ryan, who was now struggling to fend off a Hunter who was on top of him. Apparently, all its other arms had been blown off, for only its back arm remained. Leon didn't take any notice of that, though. He aimed his SPAS 12 and--  
  
Shit. The shot was too risky. The Hunter nearly covered Ryan's entire form, and thus he wouldn't risk firing off a shot that could hit Ryan as well. But, still, he had to do something.  
  
  
  
'But what?!' His mind screamed.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Ryan had been scared to death of Hunters ever since that one back in Bhrams slashed him across the forehead and gave him his current scar. No one needed to remind him of that. So when he ended up in a room full of enhanced Hunters who seemed to be more resistant to pain and could take more overall punishment -- in short, one of his worst nightmares -- how else was he supposed to act?  
  
He stepped back and ducked when Leon told him to. In fact, he was the first one to do so. After that, he fired off a shot or two, but the rest of the time he was too frightened to shoot them. Thankfully, now it looked like the ones that were coming for them were now dead, thanks to the others. Now, maybe they could --  
  
Now wait a cotton pickin' minute. Aren't there more of those things?  
  
  
  
"Uh, hey," Ryan said nervously. "Wasn't there one more?"  
  
  
  
He could actually feel the shock in their eyes. They had been so busy with the first two survivors that they hadn't noticed the third one take cover behind the boxes at the far corner of the room. He gripped his switchblade in his left pocket, and started to pace nervously around the room as he started to give off a cold sweat.  
  
The sudden Hunter cry a few minutes later made his heart jump out of his throat. He faced the source of the noise and saw it before the others did. Maybe the next thing that happened was a small part of his Seraph powers that hadn't been affected -- he didn't have time to guess -- but he actually saw the Hunter leap across the room in slow motion. A sudden panic washed over him once he realized the direction of the creature's jump. Him.  
  
Time quickened back to a normal pace, and he felt a heavy weight smack him squarely in the chest, and send him to the floor, the back of his head hitting the ground. An explosion of pain went through him and his vision became blurred. His gun went flying out of his hand but he held on to consciousness for dear life, because he knew the end result if he failed to do so. He then saw the Hunter's dorsal arm raise and prepare to strike him. His body immediately cleared his vision and erased any pain he had as he brought his hand up to meet the claw.  
  
One hand grabbed the thing's wrist, and the other grappled with the claw as if he were playing "Mercy." A new pain came rushing from his left hand grappling with the claw as it dug itself into the back of his hand, scraping his bone. He felt the wet warmness of blood seeping out of his hand.  
  
He grunted in pain and focused all his strength into keeping the thing at bay until one of the others could get a good shot at it. He then realized that the Hunter was completely covering him, and that the only way the others would have a chance of rescuing him would be if they took the risk of hitting him as well.  
  
  
  
'I'm not going to die!' He thought desperately. 'I'm going to save Anna!'  
  
  
  
He knew that his .45 was knocked away, and that his other guns were out of reach. Then he remembered his switchblade. He quickly let go of the Hunter's wrist, and felt the claw come closer to his face. It was less than three inches away from him. The Hunter, perhaps thinking that it was winning, gave a small shrill, and he could feel the reek of its breath against his face. This caused Ryan to work faster. Using his now free hand, he grabbed his switchblade, and finding the switch he extended the blade. With a war cry, he jammed the blade into the space where the Hunter's head met its body, and sent it falling backward.  
  
  
  
As soon as he was free, he dove for his .45. Grabbing it, he then turned his body toward the Hunter and fired off the remainder of his magazine. That, coupled with the firepower of the others, killed the Hunter quickly. Ryan got up and retrieved his switchblade, and cleaned it off. Only then did he examine his wound. It was bleeding pretty badly.  
  
  
  
"Let me see that," Claire said as she came up to him. She took out a bottle of isopropyl alcohol from her side pack and quickly poured it over Ryan's wound. He cringed at the burning, but kept his mouth shut. Claire then wiped the wound clean and bandaged it. He could still feel hot, fresh pain throbbing from his left hand.  
  
  
  
"Are you okay?" Sherry asked in a concerned tone, coming up close to him.  
  
  
  
"Yeah," he answered, wringing out his hand. "It hurts and stings like a bitch, but I'm alive if that's what you're asking."  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Leon took the lead into the next room. This one was made to look like a bank of the Mississippi river: lush forests of green surrounding a large river. The trees and water looked and felt real, and even the temperature was fixed to make it feel like springtime. A wooden bridge connected the two sides of the river. There were no sounds or wind though, giving it a creepy feel.  
  
They walked carefully, as they didn't want to disturb anything.  
  
  
  
Rustle...  
  
  
  
They stopped and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but they couldn't deny the sound. Leon gave a hand motion to stay silent, and they waited for any other noise to confirm their suspicions about not being alone.  
  
  
  
Rustle...  
  
  
  
This time, they readied their weapons, and looked further into the brush.  
  
  
  
Rustle...snap!  
  
  
  
Sherry gave out a yelp of surprise as she fell to the ground. She fired her .380 seven times at the thing that was holding her leg until there was a gurgling sound, and then once again, silence.  
  
  
  
"What was that?" Leon asked.  
  
  
  
"It was a claw," Sherry responded as she rubbed the area where she had been grabbed. "That's all it was: an over sized claw!"  
  
  
  
Then there were the sounds of cicadas off in the distance, mixed with the sounds of snapping.  
  
  
  
"Run!" Leon commanded.  
  
  
  
They took to their heels across the bridge, and didn't look behind them as they crossed it. Leon turned around and levied for Ryan's switchblade. Ryan tossed it to him, and Leon then cut the ropes that were holding the bridge to a post, making it unusable. They started forward, when the sounds of the cicadas and snapping greeted them from the new side. Leon gave a silent curse, and aimed his gun at the brush.  
  
  
  
"Uh...I don't mean to make it sound worse than it already is," Sherry said. "But look behind us."  
  
  
  
Everyone else turned around and saw what had to be hundreds of the claw monsters climbing into the river, and they started to swim across.  
  
  
  
"Oh, shit," was Claire's reaction.  
  
  
  
"We don't have much of a choice. Go!"  
  
  
  
And once again, they started to flee from the creatures, this time going straight through their lines. As Leon ran through the forest, he could feel their presence and the snapping at his legs. He was about to give up the hope that they were going in the right direction, when he could see a metal door in the distance. Form here, it looked as if it were floating in midair with more of the forest behind it.  
  
There was a 'Whoa!' from Claire, and Leon looked over to her to see that a claw had grappled on her leg. Leon instantly aimed his Desert Eagle and blew the abomination to shreds. He ran over to her, helping her to her feet. The spot where she had been grabbed was bleeding slightly, but Claire had also fallen in a wrong way, so her leg was in pain.  
  
  
  
"I think I twisted it," she said, referring to her ankle.  
  
  
  
"Can you get up?" Leon asked, his voice laced with disquiet.  
  
  
  
"Yeah."  
  
  
  
With the help of Leon, Claire was able to get to her feet just as the gunfire started. The others were covering them. Leon could see the door clearly now. Only twenty yards away. Thinking he could save more time, he picked Claire up and ran toward the door.  
  
  
  
"Hmmm...my knight in shining armor has come to carry me away..." Claire calmly mocked.  
  
  
  
"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Leon asked.  
  
  
  
"Because being in your arms is like being in the safest place in the world."  
  
  
  
Leon grinned. A few moments later, they reached the door, and as soon as the others came in after them, Leon punched the 'lock' button on the control panel, bringing it down on an approaching claw monster. It squirmed and tried to get free, but the door held it firmly in place.  
  
  
  
"Bite me." Leon hissed.  
  
  
  
Leon brought his boot down on the part of the creature that was in the room they were currently in, closing the door behind it. There were several hits at the door, and repeated cicada sounds, but the door remained firm.  
  
  
  
The group took a look at their new surroundings. They had finally reached the lab part of Dr. Vickers hideout.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Dr. Vickers looked around at the corpse in front of him. He had been one of the human test subjects that he bought off of some slave trader from a third-world country. The first had been fed to the Hunters. Vickers smiled as he recalled what had happened.  
  
The first person had been dragged from their holding cell and brought to a wide and open pit, one that was closed with a one-sided door lock to keep anything from getting out. The man had begged for his life in every way imaginable, offering him even money, but Vickers had simply ignored him and pressed the button to release the Hunters.  
  
The man gave a scream of terror as the various doors in the pit began to open, and very hungry Hunters began to fill the pit. They rushed at him, and his screams soon became gargled as his throat was ripped open. The Hunters literally tore him apart, and left only what was left of his epidermis and clothing.  
  
The hunters then went back to their cells, and waited for their next meal.  
  
The new body in front of him was dead due to the result of injection of one of the Seraph viruses. The former young woman's blood type was not compatible with the virus, so it killed her, slowly and very, very painfully. After she had taken the syringe out of her arm, she had begun to shake violently as if she was having seizure. Within the next few seconds, she gave an inhuman scream, and her veins began to pop out of her skin, something that was medically impossible by today's standards.  
  
Then, her skin began to actually turn inside out, and she was screaming all the way. When her brain along with her other vital organs had begun to show -- Vickers guessed that it was because of her bones melting away, but even he couldn't be sure of that -- her screams had stopped, but she was still shaking, and the heart was still beating, which meant she was still alive. She had finally stopped when her entire body had been turned inside out, which by Vickers watch, took about twenty minutes.  
  
Vickers called for his assistants, and they hauled the corpse off, with orders to throw it in the Hunter pit.  
  
Also judging by his watch, if the intruders had indeed survived, they should have been out of the Craw testing ground by now. Vickers considered it a pity that he could only make three testing grounds, even though he had somehow managed to get back under the payroll of Umbrella, saying that as soon as he got the viruses back from the terrorists, he would give them to the higher ups ASAP. Of course Vickers had had the viruses all along. He just needed to get some decent funding. Who gave a damn about Umbrella? If he could get a decent army of Seraphs and brainwash them, then he had nothing to fear from them. Hell, he could even destroy them.  
  
One thought popped into his head. Maybe he would let the intruders make it as far as to his personal lab. Then he could somehow apprehend them. What made him want to do this, was to let Ryan see Anna and all the mental and physical trauma she had endured. To make him feel an emotional pain similar to the one that Vickers himself had felt when Mark was killed.  
  
He remembered that that was the only time he had cried since childhood. He cried out of the loss of a fine specimen, not a son of sorts. His crying eventually subsided and then that sadness slowly manifested itself into rage. Now, he was given the opportunity to release his rage, and he would.  
  
It was going to be a fine day for him, oh yes it was.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
"Welcome," came Vickers voice over the loud speakers. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you at last. Please come in my most expected guests."  
  
  
  
"What have you done to Anna?" Ryan growled back at the voice.  
  
  
  
"Why don't you come to where I am to find out? I'll lead you to me."  
  
  
  
"Ha!" Sherry said. "You think that after putting us though all of that based on your directions, were going to listen to you again?"  
  
  
  
But Ryan wasn't listening. He was still bent on finding Anna.  
  
  
  
"Where do we go?" Ryan asked.  
  
  
  
"Easy," Vickers replied.  
  
  
  
"Ryan!" Leon protested. "What makes you think you can trust him?"  
  
  
  
"I don't care if I trust him or not. I need to find Anna. I just got the feeling that he'll lead me to her." Ryan replied without emotion, or recognition of the others.  
  
  
  
Vickers gave them the directions, which they followed. He led them down several twisting corridors, and they eventually ended up at a hallway with a single door at the end.  
  
  
  
"Stop," came Vickers command.  
  
  
  
They complied and waited for the next set of directions.  
  
  
  
"Ryan," Vickers said. "Enter the door at the end of the hallway. Alone."  
  
  
  
"Don't do it Ryan!" Claire told him.  
  
  
  
But, as if in a trance, Ryan took a few steeps forward. That was when Claire grabbed him. Ryan quickly retaliated by grabbing Claire by the arm and restraining her. Leon was about to help her when Ryan spoke in a menacing tone:  
  
  
  
"You will not stop me from helping her. Ya get me?" His grip on her arm loosened a bit, and his voice softened at his next words. "She saved my life before. Now it's my turn to save hers."  
  
  
  
Ryan then gently released his grip on Claire and continued down the hallway in a determined walk. This time no one stopped him. Ryan soon disappeared behind the door. After that, a blast door suddenly slammed down in front of them, and the door behind them was sealed shut. There was a hissing sound, and yellow smoke began to vent out of the ventilation shaft.  
  
Everyone tried to find another way out, but none could be found in the short time limit they had. They started to hack and wheeze, and then, one by one, they all fell to the floor.  
  
  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Ryan entered the new laboratory cautiously. He kept a firm hand around his Beretta 92 and his other hand close to his pocketed switchblade. The room looked like operating rooms that could be found in hospitals around the country. It wasn't very big, but it was enough to send shivers down one's spine.  
  
At one end of the room stood Dr. Vickers. He had had a little plastic surgery done on his face, Ryan could tell, but he still looked very similar to the last time Ryan had met him.  
  
  
  
"Hello, Ryan," Vickers greeted in an eerily friendly voice.  
  
  
  
"I want her back," was Ryan's only reply.  
  
  
  
Vickers paced around the room a little. He stopped at a table at one corner of the room and picked up two empty glass vials. He twiddled them around in his fingers a bit, then looked straight at Ryan.  
  
  
  
"Do you know what these are?" Vickers asked.  
  
  
  
Ryan shook his head.  
  
  
  
"These are the vials that contained the viruses that were infused into both you and Anna."  
  
  
  
Vickers held up one of them.  
  
  
  
"This was the AW-virus," Vickers then held up the other. "And this was the AE²-virus."  
  
  
  
Vickers then walked over to Ryan and placed them in his hand. Memories of the virus being infused into him made him flush with anger. Ryan quickly pocketed the vials, each of them filled with bad memories.  
  
  
  
"What are these for?" Ryan asked with dangerous edge to his voice.  
  
  
  
"Nothing," Replied Vickers. "Just think of it as a gift, Ryan."  
  
  
  
"I want her back!" Ryan repeated, this time shouting.  
  
  
  
"You will see her soon enough," Vickers sternly answered. "You kids these days have no patience."  
  
  
  
Vickers then turned his back to Ryan and walked to the other side of the room. Ryan clenched his fists in rage, and gritted his teeth.  
  
  
  
"I don't have any time for this crap!"  
  
  
  
Vickers once again ignored him, and continued on.  
  
  
  
"Do you know what the word 'Seraphim' means?" Vickers asked.  
  
  
  
"I'm an Atheist. How would I know anything about the bible, or whatever?"  
  
  
  
"The Seraphim are the highest choir of Angel in Heaven."  
  
  
  
"So?"  
  
  
  
"So? Can't you see? I have found a way to make humans into Angels. You are an Angel of Heaven, Ryan. You have been bestowed the great gift of bringing balance back to the world."  
  
  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
  
  
"My dream, Ryan, is to purify the human race. By loading the Seraph ambrosia into a few missiles and firing them at key points in the world, the unworthy will perish, and a new race of human will be born. A race under the eyes of God. The Seraph!" Vickers' voice had taken a tone of madness, and he raised his hands to the ceiling as if he were preaching to the choir, as he spoke the last few sentences.  
  
  
  
"At first I thought you were crazy," Ryan said venomously. "Now I know that you're well beyond that."  
  
  
  
"Why do you want to save her?" Vickers asked out of the blue.  
  
  
  
Ryan took a mental step backwards. He wasn't expecting this kind of question from the supposed madman. He took a few minutes to go over the reasons he had, and when he finished, he found that he had none. Or at least none that he was willing to admit.  
  
  
  
"I..." was all Ryan could say.  
  
  
  
Vickers gave a chuckle.  
  
  
  
"Is that all you can say? 'I'? My, my, Mr. Davidson. You are quite a pathetic person if you don't have a better reason than that. Or have you forgotten that she is carrying your children?"  
  
  
  
Ryan dropped his head, then raised it to meet the back of the crazed scientist. No, he wouldn't give him that pleasure. He had too much honor to defend here.  
  
  
  
"My reasons are not of your concern," Ryan said in a defiant tone. "They are for me to know and for you to wonder."  
  
  
  
Vickers turned to Ryan once again, this time with a huge smile on his face.  
  
  
  
"I already know the reason you're here. You don't need to deny it. Go ahead and say it, it'll give you a peace of mind."  
  
  
  
"How about this," Ryan replied, his voice full of sarcasm. "I give you the finger," He proceeded to do so. "And then you turn Anna over to me while I still have the thought of letting you live linger in my mind."  
  
  
  
Vickers' smile turned to a frown.  
  
  
  
"And how about this? No."  
  
  
  
Vickers then raised his hand, and Ryan felt a stinging sensation in the side of his neck. He looked around the room, and saw a lab assistant holding a dart rifle. Ryan looked at his neck and saw a red dart lodged in his neck. He started to stumble over to the person that had fired at him, but by the time he had reached half way, the drowsiness and vision blur had all but overtaken him. His last thought before he lost consciousness, was hopefully it wasn't a poison dart.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As you can tell by the differences between the draft and final dates, this has been on my PC for a long freaking time. I must also apologize to the readers for the long delay; I had a whole bunch of stuff going on, so I couldn't remember to send this to my editors, let alone post it.  
  
  
  
Draft: 7/2/01 (9:29PM)  
  
  
  
Final: 6/1/02 (9:10PM)  
  
  
  
Ja ne! 


	9. Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs, ...

Resident Evil Children of the Seraphs By: Xenogears   
  
Chapter eight  
  
  
  
In no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi, and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs and Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs are also copyright by me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Ryan's eyes shot open. The first thing he noticed was that he was on the floor. With a slight ache in his back, he got back to his feet and felt for the dart in his neck, finding it was gone. He looked around him. His surroundings were an exact duplicate of the cell-like space he had been in at his time in the Carlton labs, except for the presence of someone on the bed. Ryan instantly recognized Anna, and he leapt to the bedside. She was still. He turned her over, and flinched.  
  
Her skin was still warm, her pulse normal, and her breathing methodical, so she was alive. There was a small cut right below her left eye, and a small bruise on her right cheek. Her clothing was torn in a few places. Checking her arms, he found only a bruise or two on them and on her legs. Ryan brushed her cheek with his hand and then got up and leaned against the wall closest to the door, and slid down into a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around his legs and placed his head on his knees, looking at the polished floor.  
  
'Who did this to her?' Ryan thought. What malice. 'Whoever they are, they're gonna die. If it was Vickers, he'd better run for his worthless life.'  
  
He raised his head to a sound from the bed. Anna was stirring. A few seconds later, her eyes fluttered open. Slinging her legs over the side of the bed, she shakily rose to her feet slowly as if mesmerized. Without any sign of noticing him, she went for a drink at the washbowl. When she was finished, Ryan came up behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Welcome back, Anna..." Ryan said, using a smile to hide his concern. He managed to keep it off his face, but his eyes told a different story. "You okay?"  
  
Anna's head bolted up from the washbowl and she looked in the mirror at Ryan, her eyes wide with fear. She turned around as if to assure herself that he truly was there, then she wrenched free and ran with surprising speed for the door. After several failed attempts at opening it, she ran for a corner in the far side of the room and scrunched down to the floor. She kept her hands around her stomach, trying to shield her children from harm. She curled herself into a ball as well as she could and spoke in a hoarse voice, cracking with fear.  
  
"Please, Ryan...don't hurt me...don't..."  
  
'What the hell?' Ryan thought in astonishment. 'What would make her think I would want to hurt her?!'  
  
Ryan walked toward her, and Anna began to cry, and her voice became more pleading with each step Ryan took.  
  
"Iye! Dozo! Please! No more! I...I...can't take any more! Please Ryan! Don't hurt me! Please!"  
  
He bent down and reached a hand for her. She gasped and curled back in fear as if she had been struck, her eyes wide. It broke Ryan in two to see her like this. Anna was a very strong person. Whatever Vickers had done to her to make her so paranoid, it must have been horrible.  
  
Ryan tried a warm smile again, mostly to hide his sadness, and brushed her cheek with his palm. This didn't convince her. She stared at him still with a fear he had never seen in her eyes.  
  
"Don't...hurt me...please Ryan...I'm...I'm carrying your children...please..."  
  
Ryan gripped her chin firmly yet gently, and though his voice cracked slightly when he spoke, it was as firm as he could make it.  
  
"You listen to me. I would NEVER do any harm to you. You have to believe me, Anna-chan. I wouldn't ever intentionally hurt you. Never. You can feel safe with me. Why would you even think I'd do such a thing?"  
  
Anna was silent for a long while, her swollen eyes still fixed on him, trying to find some way that he was lying, that he was just misleading her. Her deep green almond-shaped eyes danced from one side of his face to the other. When she could see no sign that he would be lying, her expression dissolved and she finally reached up and grasped Ryan, tears streaming down her face. She stammered in Japanese, and Ryan guessed that by the frequent use of "gomen nasai" she was explaining that she was sorry for various things.  
  
"It's okay...They can't harm you any more. I'll keep them from doing that...Shhh..."  
  
Anna stopped speaking, but continued to cry. After a few more minutes, she calmed down, and spoke in normal English.  
  
"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have...said those things to you...I should have known that you would never hurt me, no matter what..." she faltered.  
  
"What did they do to you?" Ryan questioned her tenderly.  
  
Anna paused for a few beats, and finally gathered the courage to tell him what happened.  
  
"Vickers...he...he..." She paused for a moment, lowering her head, and spoke her next words in a whisper. "...raped me..."  
  
Ryan tensed up, his eyes widened, and he felt his heart skip a beat as his mind went blank, replaced with only one thought: Kill him.  
  
Ryan had given the subject some thought in the past, and had concluded that rape was the second worse crime against a human being. He wanted to bring everyone who had done such a thing to a bad place, but now since Vickers had done it to the mother of his children, he wanted to go well beyond "postal" on him for doing this to her.  
  
"Raped...you?" he gasped slowly, seconds away from exploding.  
  
"Y-yeah..."  
  
Ryan gritted his teeth and was about to shout when Anna interrupted him.  
  
"Ryan-kun?" Anna whispered, at long last using the title "kun" for him again. "Will you...stay with me? You won't leave me, will you?"  
  
"No! Of course I won't leave you."  
  
She paused, but began again to sob softly into his chest. When she had calmed down a little, she spoke.  
  
"Do you..." Anna stumbled in mid-sentence, but she finally got out the certain words she wanted so much to say. "...Love me? Even after all the horrible things I have put you through all this time?"  
  
Ryan was shocked. He did feel that way about her, but he hadn't admitted it to anyone, and he wasn't thinking that he was going to any time soon. Now, Anna was trying to coax the answer out of him. They were the hardest three words that he could ever say to someone. The three English words that were so small...meaning so much.  
  
"I..." Ryan floundered over the words that were in his head, yet didn't quite find their way to his tongue. "...I...do love you, Anna-chan..."  
  
Anna's grip on him tightened, and Ryan responded in kind.  
  
"Thank you, Ryan-kun...I...thought that you wouldn't say such a thing to me after I've been such a bitch to you these past few months..."  
  
"Anna-chan," Ryan said. "There are very few things in this world that could make me stop loving you. And hitting me, brushing me off, and screaming at me for days on end, isn't one of those things."  
  
"Thank you..."  
  
"Anna..." Ryan asked her, looking her straight in her eyes.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Do you love me?"  
  
"I...of course I do!"  
  
Ryan smiled. "Good."  
  
He tilted his head to hers, and kissed her gently.  
  
A string of saliva still connected them when they broke off the kiss, and Ryan pulled both of them to their feet, but Anna fell back to the ground, clutching between her legs with pain.  
  
"It...hurts..." she gasped.  
  
"Here, I'm just going to bring you to the bed, okay? So you can lie down."  
  
Ryan hoisted her up gently again, and slung her arm around his shoulder. As if she was a wounded solider, he carried her back to the bed and laid her down carefully.  
  
He asked permission to lift up her clothing to check for anything underneath. She was wearing no undergarments, and a series of abrasions and fresh bruises continued up her legs, thighs, chest, and stopped at her collarbone. He swore that he would kill Vickers without a second thought.  
  
At least there were no deep bruises on her stomach. He pressed lightly in various places to check for broken bones. To his relief, there were none. Anna commented on his bandaged hand, but he convinced her that it wasn't serious.  
  
He then lay down with her on the bed. Anna settled her head on his chest, and Ryan stroked her long jet-black hair as he talked her to sleep. He could worry about escaping later. For now, he would be with his girl.  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Chris was the first to wake up. Rubbing his head, he slowly rose to his feet and looked around. He found himself in what looked like an oversized modern-day prison cell. He walked around and woke up the others, who one by one complained of a nasty headache as they stirred.  
  
"Oh man..." Sherry moaned. "What happened? I remember this gas coming out of the vents...then nothing..."  
  
"Sleeping gas," Leon responded.  
  
Once Claire regained some of her senses, she spoke. "So what now?" she asked. "We're obviously prisoners."  
  
"Just wait for opportunities to present themselves," Chris responded.  
  
So, they waited. They didn't know how long, but it was a long time. The opening of the door snapped them out of whatever they were doing to entertain themselves. In stepped two lab assistants who each held what looked like a Browning HP.  
  
"Okay," one of them said. He looked like his hand was shaking a little, and his eyes were a little wider than usual. "We're taking you down to meet the doctor. You will come with us or die."  
  
  
  
The second one nodded his head. He looked much more calm and cool, the grip on his gun very steady, and his eyes had a hard and self-assured gaze.  
  
The group hesitated.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" the second lab assistant said. "Get up!"  
  
The lab assistants herded them up into a line. Their mistake was placing Leon in the front with the shaky one, and Chris in the back with the calm one. As soon as they stepped out in the hall, Leon grabbed the lab assistant in front of him. In the next split-second, Chris used the distraction that Leon caused to grab the arm of the lab assistant near him, and twisted it around his back. The assistant gave a cry of pain and his gun hit the floor. The lab assistant was stronger than Chris had reckoned, though, and he wrenched out of the arm hold and pushed Chris to the side. He was reaching for his gun when Leon pulled the trigger on the first lab assistant's gun that he had confiscated. The man's body jerked violently, spun around, and collapsed in a heap.  
  
Chris picked up the fallen lab assistant's gun, nodding his head to Leon as a way of thanks. Leon, nodding in return, held the other of their captors with a hand around his neck from behind, the gun in his other hand at the man's head. The assistant was shaking wildly with fear, and his breathing was rapid.  
  
"Take us to our weapons, and then to the kids you're holding here," Leon demanded in a raspy tone into his ear.  
  
"What ki--"  
  
The lab assistant stopped in mid sentence when he felt the gun pressing harder against his skull.  
  
"Don't play games, or you'll end up like your friend over there," Leon rasped into the man's ear.  
  
"Okay! I'll take you!"  
  
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Ryan woke up to the sounds of knocking at his door. He silently cursed at himself; he hadn't meant to fall asleep. He decided to let this one slip, as this had been the first time he had actually slept, without making love, with Anna. He got up carefully, not to wake her, and went to the door. He readied himself for what was behind the door, and at last opened it.  
  
He was surprised to find the faces of Chris, Claire, Leon, and Sherry staring him in the face. He also noticed that Leon was holding a lab assistant at gunpoint.  
  
"Hey kid," Chris said. "We're here to bust you out."  
  
"Do you know where Anna is being held? This jackass claims not to know," Leon said, indicating the lab assistant.  
  
Ryan's face turned dark, and he gave them enough room to see Anna on the bed.  
  
"What...what happened to her?!" Sherry's eyes sprung open wide.  
  
"She...I...I can't tell you now, sorry. If she wants to tell you later then she will."  
  
Ryan walked over to Anna and gently shook her. She stirred from sleep, not quite awake.  
  
"Hey," he whispered. "Anna-chan... Wake up..."  
  
"Mmmm...no...let's sleep in today..."  
  
"Anna. Do you remember where we are?"  
  
The peaceful security that she had felt since Ryan had laid down with her suddenly dissolved, and she looked up at him grimly, awake now.  
  
"Can you walk on your own?" Ryan asked.  
  
Anna slowly got up from the bed, but she lost her balance and would have fallen again if Ryan hadn't caught her.  
  
"I take that as a no."  
  
Ryan supported her with his shoulder, one of her arms slung around his shoulder, and the other against her rounded stomach. Ryan handed her the Colt .45 that he had been holding for her, and she pocketed it inside her dress.  
  
"Let's get going," Leon said.  
  
But Ryan didn't comply.  
  
"Do you know anything about this?" Ryan asked the lab assistant.  
  
"I...I was told not to go anywhere near Dr. Vickers' personal laboratory, no matter what I heard. Only his personal assistants were allowed to be in that section of the labs."  
  
"Do you know where Vickers might be?" Ryan asked.  
  
"No, but...I think I know where the self-destruction controls are..."  
  
"Then by all means, lead the way." Chris said.  
  
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Dr. Vickers' personal assistants were eventually let go. After all, chances were that Vickers was ten times worse than they were, and it seemed that they were private contractors and not working for Umbrella.  
  
Now, the team was heading toward Dr. Vickers's office. When they reached the location, they instantly looked for the panel that would let them activate the self-destruct sequence. After a few more minutes of searching, they found the panel and started up the sequence.  
  
  
  
Pow! There was a sudden gunshot somewhere close by.  
  
  
  
Everyone ducked as the gunshot exploded against the wall, barely missing Ryan. Ryan jumped up and returned fire. He didn't bother to aim, concerned with laying down some cover fire for the others.  
  
He looked around for the gunman. When he found him, it was the last person he expected, but the most he could have hoped for: Dr. Jared Vickers himself.  
  
Ryan immediately fixed his aim, making an imaginary bull's-eye on his face. Just as Ryan was about to fire however, Vickers got off another shot, causing Ryan to duck out of the way and make Ryan's next shot go wide, hitting Vickers in the arm instead. Vickers grunted in pain, and then took off running. Ryan took after him, jump rolling over a table as he bolted out of the room.  
  
"Ryan!" Sherry called after him.  
  
But he was already down the hall running and couldn't hear her. Vickers was in his crosshairs, leaving a steady trail of blood behind him as he ran. Ryan aimed his Beretta 92.  
  
  
  
Pow! Pow! Pow!  
  
  
  
All three shots missed, mainly because of his rage. Now Ryan was out of ammo. There was the Walther, of course, but getting it out of its holster would take too long. He wanted Vickers's blood. He would catch up to him and pistol-whip him to death, if that's what it came to.  
  
He saw Vickers turn a corner, and he picked up speed, breaking into a sprint. He hit the wall as he tried to turn into the corridor but stopped in his tracks when he saw Vickers pointing his gun straight at him and wearing a reaper's smile.  
  
Ryan knew he was dead.  
  
Four shots were fired. Ryan was hit, and went reeling backwards.  
  
At first, it just felt like a really hard punch hitting him, without the pain. Then, a hot, sharp pain ripped through his chest, and he gave a cry, fell back, and hit the floor. Seconds later, he heard Anna screaming, and then she was cradling his head in her arms.  
  
"Ryan!" She was on the verge of tears. "Ryan! Are you hurt? Ryan!"  
  
"What...does it look like..." he grunted through clenched teeth. "I've been...shot!"  
  
If his sarcasm was still there, then he was okay, she thought. But the next second later, he heaved as he coughed up a dark splash of blood.  
  
"Shit..." he cursed thickly. "Am I...gonna die...?"  
  
"No!" Anna yelled. "You're not!"  
  
He tried to roll into a sitting position, but he fell back in pain.  
  
"Dammit..." Anna cursed. "Call the EMTs. I'll meet you guys at the hospital."  
  
"What?" Leon said. "But--"  
  
"I have some unfinished business to take care of."  
  
"...All right. Let's get him out of here, then! Quick!"  
  
Leon and Chris lifted Ryan as quickly as they could without adding to the pain, and then ran for the doorway.  
  
Anna went over.reasonable limit. Then she turned Anna went over to the terminal and activated the self-destruct, making sure to set the timer to a reasonable limit.  
  
Then she turned and ran out of the room, calling up all her strength from somewhere deep within herself. Dr. Vickers had made both Ryan's and her life less than it should have been for the past year and a half. Now, she had reached her breaking point. She would make him pay dearly.  
  
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Dr. Vickers looked at his targets. Which one to pick? They had been so wrapped up in fiddling with computers that they hadn't bothered to close the door, thus allowing him a clean shot at whomever he wanted. He looked over his choices.  
  
'Anna? No. Too important. The female Redfield? No. Not worth it. The male Redfield? Same thing as his younger sibling. The police officer, Kennedy? No. He would be saved for Hunter food for later. Ryan?  
  
'Yes!' Dr. Vickers thought triumphantly. 'The traitor must die!'  
  
Pow!  
  
He saw the bullet miss its mark and hit the wall near Ryan, and then they all dove for cover. Ryan jumped up moments later, firing. Vickers grunted in pain as one of Ryan's bullets hit him in the arm. He cursed, turned, and ran down the hall as fast as he could. He could hear Ryan chasing after him, steadily gaining speed.  
  
  
  
Pow! Pow! Pow!  
  
  
  
The three gunshots barely missed him, one whizzing past his ear.  
  
'Just need to make it to the corner...' he thought.  
  
He reached the corner of the hall and ran further down its long metallic corridors, then turned to face back toward Ryan's direction. There he waited for him to appear, his Taisho pistol aimed.  
  
As he expected, Ryan came around the corner a few moments later, trying to skid to a stop but hitting the wall. He quickly recovered, only to find himself faced with a pistol. He stopped dead in his tracks, his face turning to a mixture of surprise and horror. Vickers smiled in glee.  
  
He pulled the trigger four times, but only one shot hit its mark -- in Ryan's chest. Ryan cried out and then fell to the floor, and Vickers turned and ran. In a moment, he could hear the distinct scream of Anna far back in the hall. He smiled again, and kept running.  
  
He dashed on through the corridor until he reached a large metal door. He was sure that this was the control room. The fact that the control room doors looked identical to those of the Hunter feeding rooms would give him an edge. After all, he knew the layout of the labs, and they didn't.  
  
He noticed that the room was a little more spacious, and his footsteps made a slight echo, but he thought nothing of it. The room was too dark to see anything, so he would have to wait for the automatic lights to turn on in order to find the control panel for the door. It took awhile, but the lights finally turned on.  
  
'There we--'  
  
Vickers stopped. He was in the Hunter feeding room, which meant--  
  
He ran for the door, and tried to open it. But he remembered that it could only be opened from the outside. His mind screamed. He was trapped. For minutes, he ran frantically around the room, searching for a means of escape, until he heard a voice on the loud speakers.  
  
"Don't bother. You can't escape," came the voice of a very angry woman. He could instantly tell it was Anna.  
  
Vickers looked up through the one-sided glass, and even though he couldn't see anyone behind it, he was sure that Anna was staring him down, her expression cold and blank.  
  
He knew that he was a dead man.  
  
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"What do you want?" Vickers pleaded. "Money? Power? I can give you those things. Just think about it, Anna, your kids wouldn't need to worry about jobs! You would be set for...five life times!"  
  
Anna sneered. So he was begging for his life? This was great.  
  
"What do I want?" Anna screamed. "I want you to take back all the hell you put me through! I want to be human again! I want my children to be human! I want to live a normal life with my children and have Ryan by our side! But now...I don't even think that he'll live!"  
  
"Please! Just think about it!" Vickers once again pleaded. "I can't do any of those things! Anything else but that!"  
  
Anna kept staring at him with that blank expression.  
  
Vickers was finally, thoroughly, frightened.  
  
"Please!"  
  
"Dr. Vickers," Anna mocked. "At least try to keep a little face for your death? In my father's words, 'If death comes to your door, welcome him in for tea.' Unfortunately, we have no tea with us, but we will be more than happy to let Mr. Grim give you a good ol' hug."  
  
"Don't you listen?! I'll do anything! Anything!" Vickers's voice rose to a squeal.  
  
"Then sit patiently and wait for death to come, you rotten son of a bitch!" Anna sneered. "Die!"  
  
Anna hit the "Release Hunters" button, sealing Vickers' fate.  
  
A long, anguished scream rose from the room as several Hunters pounced on him, and literally, played with his body, ripping out his insides and throwing them against the walls before bending down to finish off the still- warm main course. Anna watched the butchering with a without compunction. When the Hunters had finished their repast, they shook off the bloody remnants of Dr. Vickers and lumbered off to their cells.  
  
"Kataki uchi..." Anna muttered as she turned for the doors.  
  
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Anna burst into the ER of the North Shore Medical Center and asked the people behind the ER desk where Ryan was. They reluctantly told her, and she once again ran for him.  
  
Finding ER room Nine, she barged in the doors, finding Leon, Claire, Chris and Sherry hovering over Ryan; he was on the hospital bed, hooked up to a breathing machine. She finally slowed down and walked toward him. Sherry gave up her seat next to the bed and Anna took it.  
  
"Is he..." Anna said in a shaky voice. "How bad is it...?"  
  
"He's got a punctured left lung and excessive blood loss," Claire said mournfully. "The lung was temporally repaired--they're still waiting for room up in the OR--but the blood...He's a Seraph...I don't think that his body will accept any kind of blood that doesn't have the...virus in it. Besides, he has one of the rarest blood types in the world."  
  
"No," Anna said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Trust me. His body will accept it. The virus that exists in his system will simply accommodate the new blood cells. As for the blood type, I'm sure that there's a pint or two lying around. By the way, did they...say anything about the color of his blood?"  
  
"No. For some odd reason, his blood, even the stains on his shirt, turned red by the time we got here."  
  
Anna breathed another sigh of relief.  
  
"Good. Now that that's over--" Anna stopped short when the heart rate monitor suddenly went flatline. Within a few seconds, the doctors entered the room, and brought out the shock pads. The others left the room and waited. The moments seemed to pass by in the form of hours. There were several "Clear!"'s yelled from the room along with the sound of Ryan's body hitting the bed.  
  
Then, it stopped.  
  
The heart monitor was turned off, and the doctors left the room. One stopped in front of Anna.  
  
She didn't need to be told the awful truth. Ryan was dead. She turned around and started to cry in Claire's shoulder, who comforted her. Sherry broke into sobbing.  
  
"Ma'am..." The doctor started. "I'm sor--"  
  
"Don't say it!" Anna snapped, her head still buried into Claire's shoulder. "You...don't need to tell me..."  
  
Anna tuned out to the rest of the speech as the doctor continued to talk.  
  
'Hey! Okaa-san!' Anna heard Adrian say. 'Don't give up yet!'  
  
'What do you mean?! HE'S DEAD!'  
  
'He just needs a little more of a shock!'  
  
'What...? You mean the paddles?'  
  
'No! We mean us! We can channel our electric elements into you, and then there might be hope.'  
  
'But the doctors--'  
  
'Forget about that! Seraph electricity is different from regular electricity!'  
  
Without even thinking, Anna dashed for the room. The doctor stopped her.  
  
"Get out of my way!" Anna screamed. "I need to save him!"  
  
"He's dead," the doctor tried to reason. "You can't save him!"  
  
"I said, move!"  
  
The doctor remained adamant and continued to block her. Anna then stepped back and formed an ice crystal in her hand. With surprising speed, the crystal rapidly formed itself into her Yari spear. Then, with expert precision, she jabbed her spear into the door just centimeters from the doctor's throat. The whole ER went into alert, and someone shouted for security.  
  
"I. Said. Move." She repeated through clenched teeth.  
  
"O-okay...just...put the spear down..."  
  
"MOVE! Now! Isogi!"  
  
The doctor hastily complied and stepped aside.  
  
"Anna!" Chris said. "You can't bring him back to life!"  
  
"Maybe a human can't," Anna said. "But maybe a Seraph can."  
  
Anna entered the room and yanked back the sheet that was covering Ryan's body. "Turn on the heart rate monitor! Now!"  
  
The doctor complied and turned it on. A monotonous electronic bee-eep filled the dead air.  
  
"Freeze!"  
  
Anna looked over to the doorway. Three security guards stood there, with 9mm semi-automatic pistols pointed at her.  
  
"Place down your weapon and come with us!"  
  
Anna formed an invisible ice barrier in front of her, twirled her spear into an aggressive stance, and prepared to charge. Her eyes showed no sign of fear.  
  
"Don't try to stop me!" She hissed.  
  
The security guards fired their weapons, but when the bullets came within a foot of her, a glacier of ice rose from the floor. The bullets flattened out against the impact of the barrier and fell harmlessly to the floor. The security guards stopped firing and gazed in astonishment, their guns hanging from their hands. Anna took this chance to rush forward and slashed her spear in an upward arc, chopping off the barrels of their guns.  
  
The guards quickly recovered and took out their tonfas, but Anna punched her fist forward and an ice fist propelled out of her hand, slamming into one of the guards and sending him flying across the room. The other two dropped back. Anna then punched again, and this time a high-intensity jet stream of water came out of her fist and sent the other two guards sprawling across the room to land next to the first one.  
  
Anna evaporated her spear and walked over to Ryan as if nothing had happened. She placed her hands on his chest. She was breathing hard.  
  
"Come on, Adrian, Nozomi..." Anna said aloud. "Help me save your father..."  
  
Anna felt a sudden rush of power fly into her as if from an unknown force. She could feel the effects of an Electric Seraph as well as a Water Seraph flow through her. She concentrated, and formed the electricity in her arms. She charged it a little, then discharged it. There was a 'zap' sound, and Ryan lurched up and then fell back to the bed.  
  
A small 'beep' came from the heart monitor, then again went flatline. Everyone that gathered at the doorway witnessing this was amazed. Claire, Leon, Sherry, and Chris were only surprised because they thought that Anna only had control over water.  
  
She charged again.  
  
Another 'zap' sound and Ryan lurched up and then fell back to the bed. Two small 'beep's came form the heart monitor.  
  
  
  
'Come on,' Anna thought. 'I'm so close...I'm not going to lose him!'  
  
The sudden rush of emotion caused an even larger voltaic charge to come forth. There was the explosive sound of a highly charged electrical surge.  
  
Ryan lurched up from the table and fell again. Some color started to creep back into his face. The monitor began beeping normally. Ryan was breathing on his own. His heartbeat was a little erratic, but he was alive. Anna could feel the effects of the electricity start to fade away, and she stepped away from him and turned back to the doctor.  
  
"Get him that blood transfusion fast," Anna demanded. "He's got OB negative blood type."  
  
"W-what...are...you...?" the doctor stammered.  
  
"That's not important! Please just get the transfusion ready!"  
  
The doctor stumbled away to place in the call for a transfusion. The security guards that had witnessed the whole event sat at the other side of the room, dumbfounded.  
  
"See...?" She said weakly. "I told you...I could bring him back..."  
  
Anna then sat back down and placed her head on his chest, pleased to tears by the sound of his heartbeat. "Don't you ever pull crap like that again, you big baka..." Anna whispered. "Don't you ever think of trying to leaving me again..."  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
Six months later...  
  
  
  
Ryan and Anna sat on a bench under a small Japanese-style shelter at the top of the hill in the Seifuto Rock Garden, at the Sansho-En, the Japanese gardens in the Chicago Botanical Gardens. The bench overlooked the small lake located between the three island gardens, facing the sunset. The flowers were in full bloom, and anything else that would sprout in the spring, summer, and fall was turned out in full. With the soft colors of the sunset washing over it all, everything looked exquisite.  
  
Ryan held his arm around Anna, who rested her head on his shoulder. Her stomach had grown large over the past few months, but that made her no less attractive to him. She had her eyes closed; the walk around the gardens had worn her out. He knew that they would have to go soon, because the gardens would be closing, and it seemed that rain clouds were closing in from the east.  
  
He kissed her cheek, waking her from her short nap.  
  
"Come on," Ryan whispered. "We gotta go. The gardens are closing, and rain is coming."  
  
"Just a little bit longer?" She pleaded.  
  
"I guess that's okay."  
  
Anna gazed dreamily across the calm little lake, its smooth surface lit now with crimson and gold from the evening sky. "Are you psyched about going to meet our parents in L.A?"  
  
  
  
  
  
Ryan smiled at the memory of the day that Anna called her mother. It was near the beginning of her sixth month. The phone was picked up almost instantly.  
  
"Moshi moshi?" Answered a female voice.  
  
"Okaa-san?" Anna said.  
  
"Ehhh? Anna-chan? That is you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I not hear from you in six month! I think something bad happen! You ahright?" Her mother's English was getting better only by tiny increments.  
  
"Of course I'm all right."  
  
"Are-ah guardian taking good job care of you?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Is--"  
  
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have something very important to tell you, okaa-san."  
  
"What?" Anna's mother asked.  
  
"Well, do you remember Ryan?"  
  
"That boy about-eh your age?"  
  
"Yes, well, you see..."  
  
Anna searched for the right words to say, but the only ones that came to mind were too blunt, so she used them politely as she could.  
  
"I'm about six months pregnant..."  
  
  
  
"NANI?!" Came her mother's response. "You telling truth?!"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
At that, her mother launched - loudly -- into a rapid torrent of Japanese, speaking so fast that Anna could barely keep up.  
  
"O...okaa...okaa-san! Calm down! Look...Nan da? Iye, watakushi no...Okaa...jeez...will you...Okaa-san! Just...will you listen to me? I...h- hai...Iye...iye!...Wakrimasu, okaa-san...Mom! Just listen!"  
  
Rarely did Anna ever call her mother 'mom.' Most of the time she used the Japanese equivalent, 'okaa-san.' It made her mother stop talking, abruptly.  
  
"Look, it's not as bad as you think it is, okay? Ryan is a very good person. We love each other. I'm sure he'll be a good father. Besides, my whole future is NOT ruined."  
  
"Put him on denwa."  
  
"Ryan-kun!" Anna called out. "Phone!"  
  
Ryan came bounding from the kitchen a moment later, and picked up the phone with his hand over the mouthpiece.  
  
"Who is it?" he asked.  
  
"My mother," she said. She smiled as a way to say 'It's okay.'  
  
But Ryan was not convinced. He felt his adrenaline surge and his stomach flipped.  
  
"H-hello?" he said slowly.  
  
He almost instantaneously placed the phone a few inches from his ears, for Anna's mother was screaming at him in rapid-fire Japanese. He barely caught a sentence. When he understood one, another would come out at twice the speed, sending him off course.  
  
"Whoa...I...Uh...E...E...Eigo o hanashimusu ka? Good...oh boy...ummm... no, I...yes...yes...yes...no...I can't understand you that well! Can you please talk a little slower...thank you...no!...no! I would never do that!...I...please...can you calm down a little?"  
  
Anna's mother slowed down with obvious effort. She sucked in a deep breath, but her tone was still stern.  
  
"Want see you and Anna-chan...How do say it? A-S-A-P?"  
  
"Mrs. Yamaguchi, we don't have enough money to get to L.A."  
  
"Then we pay."  
  
"I could never ask you to do that!"  
  
"You must not worry about it...we have very rots moneys spare."  
  
"Okay...I guess..."  
  
"Boy-Raiun," Anna's mother began.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Where parents living?"  
  
"Uh...last I heard...they're in Boston..."  
  
"Give me address, and we send tickets."  
  
"What?! No! No! You can't do that!"  
  
"Why? You afraid see parents you and Anna?"  
  
Ryan cringed at the thought of having to see his father again. He had called him about a week ago and explained everything about Anna and him. He and his father had had a screaming match that lasted well over half an hour. Then Ryan had slammed down the receiver. His father was famous for his temper, and Ryan didn't want to deal with it.  
  
"I...guess..."  
  
"No need worry. It okay."  
  
  
  
After a little more convincing, Ryan had given Anna's mother his parents' address, and then handed the phone back to Anna.  
  
Ever since then, he had been in a state of anxiety. He was going to see his parents and his sister for the first time in nearly two years. They knew about Anna, and his father, at least, wasn't very happy about it. His mother and sister were supportive, but disappointed. They thought that he had made some bad decisions.  
  
  
  
'Still,' Ryan thought, coming out of his reverie. 'for some odd reason, I don't regret any of it. I really want to see these kids of mine.'  
  
Ryan looked over his shoulder to the east and saw the clouds getting closer. There was a smell of coming rain, and they felt a few droplets on their forearms.  
  
"Okay, Anna-chan, we have to go now. Leon, Claire, and Sherry are waiting for us."  
  
"Oh man..." she sighed. "I wanted to watch the sunset for a little longer."  
  
"If we don't go, we'll get soaked, not to mention getting trapped in the gardens all night." He stood up, extending his hand to her.  
  
Anna rose from the bench and grasped Ryan's hand in hers. They walked back to Ryan's car. They would need to be up early tomorrow to catch the plane to L.A.  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Next day...  
  
  
  
Ryan and Anna stood hand in hand in front of Anna's parents' house.  
  
'I'm really starting to have second thoughts about this...' Mumbled/thought Ryan.  
  
[Come on. My folks may be a little stern, but they'll get to like you in time.] Anna responded through their Seraph link.  
  
'What I'm really worried about are my folks. I think--no, I know--I really pissed them off.'  
  
[We can convince them, can't we...?.]  
  
'I hope...'  
  
[Nozomi and Adrian say that you should give them a chance. They're excited to meet both their grandparents.]  
  
'Tell them, "How would you know? You can't even see them."'  
  
[Their answer is, "Yes we can. Through okaa-san."]  
  
'Yeah...forgot about that...So how are you guys today?'  
  
[Just fine, otoo-san,] he heard Nozomi say. [Don't be so surprised. We can talk to you, too. Or have you forgotten that as well?]  
  
'Yeah, I guess so.'  
  
[Jeez,] teased Adrian, [you're getting old already.]  
  
'All right then,' Ryan said in thought, chuckling. 'Shall we?'  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ryan pressed the doorbell. A few moments later, a young woman in a maid's uniform opened the door.  
  
"Hello, Ms. Yamaguchi, Mr. Davidson. I was told to bring you to the front room. Would you please come in?"  
  
"Certainly." Anna responded.  
  
So, they were led to the front room where Anna's parents were waiting, along with a young man who looked like he was about twenty years old. The thought occurred to Ryan that they looked -- very Japanese.  
  
Mrs. Yamaguchi seemed well into her forties with a few gray strands in her hair, and a wrinkle or two on her face. She was trying to hold onto a look of sternness, but Ryan and Anna could tell that she was really happy to see her daughter.  
  
Mr. Yamaguchi was in his late forties as well, and had many gray hairs and deeper wrinkles about his eyes. His expression was of real sternness. Ryan thought he could even sense some hostility.  
  
The young man, who looked like a much younger version of Mr. Yamaguchi, was taller than Ryan by about an inch, and he too had a stern expression with a little hostility under the surface. Ryan guessed that if this guy could hide his hostility as well as Mr. Yamaguchi, then he must be at least twice as angry with him as Anna's father was.  
  
"Anno...Konnichi wa, Yamaguchi-sama," Ryan greeted in the best sounding Japanese he could use as both he and Anna bowed. "Hajimemashite...Ii genki desu ne?"  
  
"So desu ne," was Mr. Yamaguchi's answer. His voice was deep and powerful, and made Ryan feel small, though in reality Ryan was slightly taller than the man was. Ryan noticed Mr. Yamaguchi taking a look or two at Anna's swollen stomach.  
  
"Anna-chan," said Mrs. Yamaguchi. "Welcome home."  
  
"Yes, thank you, okaa-san."  
  
"It is good to see you again, imoto-chan," said the young man with a bow.  
  
"And you as well, ototo-san," Anna returned the bow.  
  
"And...hello...Ryan, was it?" the younger version of Mr. Yamaguchi said, with a great deal of control in his voice.  
  
"Yes, nice to meet you."  
  
They both shook hands, and Ryan grimaced a little at the bone-crushing grip. He could sense the handshake was intentionally rough.  
  
'You never told me you had a brother!' Ryan thought/said.  
  
[I just thought that you should find out for yourself. Look, Masa-san takes on the protective brother type. So, you really haven't started on a good key with him, but don't let him grate on your nerves. It'll pass.]  
  
'Okay, whatever you say--'  
  
At that moment, footsteps could be heard from the staircase.  
  
"You have a pretty nice place here, Yasunori," came an adult male voice from the staircase.  
  
The man stopped short when he saw Ryan and Anna. It was Ryan's father, with his mother and older sister right behind him. Ryan's father was the same height as his son and, in his late thirties, looked like a matured form of Ryan. The look on his face was not one of pleasure. His mother, whom Ryan hardly resembled, was about an inch or two taller than Anna. She was the same age as her husband, and her dark brown hair and green eyes were lit up with joy. Ryan's sister, about twenty years old, was almost an exact copy of her mother at the same height. Her expression was smug. There was a long silence.  
  
"Why..." Ryan's father began, his tone sour. "Hello, Ryan."  
  
Ryan's face dropped in shame.  
  
"Yeah...hi..." Ryan murmured. Anna then nudged him, and he said it more clearly.  
  
His mother ran over to him and embraced him, and his sister followed suit.  
  
"Hey! Quit it!"  
  
Ryan then whispered to them the Japanese standards against public displays of affection, something that wasn't practiced by traditional Japanese. His mother and sister looked slightly embarrassed, but Ryan had to admit to himself that he was really happy for their embraces.  
  
[Why don't you get along with your father, otoo-san?] Adrian asked.  
  
'I just don't. I never really liked him that much, and this whole affair is just one more thing that he can use against me, which is exactly what he is doing now.'  
  
[What exactly is he doing? Nothing seems wrong with him to me.]  
  
'Trust me,' Ryan thought/said. "I know him better than you do." The last came out aloud, which confused the others.  
  
"Forget about it," Anna said. "Let's just catch up on times, shall we?"  
  
Ryan smiled. "Yeah...guess you're right."  
  
Then they all sat down in the living room and got caught up on things, Anna and Ryan being sure to tell the absolute truth about everything that happened. Their families weren't as shocked as the couple thought they would be, mainly because they had known about Umbrella's illegal activities.  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
After dinner...  
  
Ryan strolled into the back yard of the house. Sitting there in lawn chairs were Anna's brother, Masahiro; Anna's father, Yasunori; and Ryan's father, Peter. Yasunori and Peter were each smoking a cigarette.  
  
'Jeez,' Ryan thought. 'Now I'm sure that addiction runs through the family. Sis just got off of 'em, and I got back on six months ago...'  
  
"Mind if I join you?" Ryan asked.  
  
Yasunori wordlessly motioned him to sit down.  
  
Ryan took an empty chair next to Yasunori, and lit himself a cigarette of his own. His father immediately bolted up.  
  
"Put that out now!" his father seethed.  
  
"You don't have control over me anymore, Father." As if to drive his point home, Ryan took a long drag on his cigarette and breathed it out slowly. Then he leaned back a little and placed his hands behind his head.  
  
"Like hell I don't! Just because you decided to be irresponsible, run off on some damn fool's idealistic crusade, and start a family with someone not much younger than you, doesn't mean that I'm not your father! Put that out now!"  
  
Ryan then gave his father the rudest well-known gesture in sign language.  
  
"You rotten little..."  
  
Ryan's father stormed over to him, and Ryan stood up to face him.  
  
"Do you really want to do this?" Ryan asked. "Just remember that I'm not a kid, or a human, anymore, and just because you're my father doesn't mean I won't hesitate to beat the shit outta you!"  
  
"You're getting' into trouble with those big words there, son..."  
  
"You can speak big words when you're a Seraph..."  
  
Ryan tried to control the electricity from flowing out of his hand, but he didn't stop it in time, and a large spark crackled in his right hand. The others did not miss this, and took a step back. The spark turned into a ball of electricity, and floated a few centimeters above Ryan's hand.  
  
"You want to try me now? If you do, then just be prepared to face the pent- up rage of fifteen years of mental abuse from you..."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"What do I mean?" Ryan repeated, with a mean laugh. "What do I mean?! You put me through a living hell you called childhood! I used to think that you were a demon from hell sent to torment me for something I did in a past life! I used to ask God all the time why he was doing this to me! Do you know what was the second reason for staying behind back in Bhrams? To get away from you!"  
  
Peter's eyes widened.  
  
"Yes!" Ryan shouted as he continued. "You weren't a father at all! I never considered you one until you started to ease down when I turned twelve! Even then, you were still an asshole!"  
  
"I...I..." Peter stuttered.  
  
"If you want to hit me, go ahead. I can promise you that I will deliver a punch one-hundred times as hard as anything you can..."  
  
"Cut it out!" came the voice of Anna from the kitchen window. "Ryan! Get inside now, and put out that cigarette! Don't make me come down there!"  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Anna, her mother Koiko, Ryan's sister Sara, and Ryan's mother Elizabeth, sat at the dining room table, looking over old family picture albums.  
  
"And see this one? He was about five or so, and...ohhh! He just looked so cute! I had to take the picture!" Ryan's mother pointed fondly at the page in the album, tilting the book so the others could see.  
  
"Hey!" Sara said. "I remember that day! I buried him in the sand so only his head was sticking out! Now THAT was funny."  
  
"Ahhh...well," Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Sara. "If you are referring to your torture of your younger brother, then, yes, that incident actually was quite funny."  
  
"You're right," Anna said. "He does look cute. He would have a fit if he knew I saw this."  
  
Elizabeth chuckled. "Yes. He probably would."  
  
"Oh! What this?" Koiko asked.  
  
"It was his grade school graduation."  
  
"He rook lot shorter."  
  
"Yes. He has grown very tall since then."  
  
"Hey," Anna said, referring to a small sheet of paper in the album. "This is Kanji. He can spell his name in Kanji?"  
  
It was the Kanji character Raiu, with an n Katakana character below it.  
  
"Yeah," Elizabeth said. "He sat in his room for two hours practicing this, until he got it down perfectly. Once he did, we laminated it and placed it in this book."  
  
"It's pretty good."  
  
Suddenly, a shout from outside interrupted them. Everyone went into the kitchen toward the shouting, and Anna was the one to peer out the window into the yard.  
  
Ryan was standing in front of his father with a sparkling ball of electricity in his right hand.  
  
"Yes..." Ryan was shouting. "You weren't a father at all! I never considered you one until you started to ease down when I turned twelve! Even then, you were still an asshole!"  
  
Anna opened the window and poked her head out.  
  
Ryan continued: "If you want to hit me, go ahead. I can promise you that I will deliver a punch one-hundred times as hard as anything you can..."  
  
"Cut it out!" Anna yelled at him "Ryan! Get inside now, and put out that cigarette! Don't make me come down there!"  
  
Ryan looked up at her. "This is between my father and me, not you, Anna!"  
  
"If you go all out on him you'll kill him!"  
  
"Then he'll deserve it! I've been waiting all my life for this! Don't spoil it for me!"  
  
Anna could see that he was about to attack his father, so she quickly concentrated and sent a high-pressure stream of water from her fist at Ryan, who tumbled to the ground with the impact.  
  
"I said stop! Don't make me have to do that again! Come up! Ima!"  
  
Ryan got to his feet, cursing, and walked up the stairs into the house, storming past everyone and up the stairs to the bathroom.  
  
After a few minutes, Anna sighed and walked up the stairs after him. "Okaa- san."  
  
"Hai?"  
  
"Can you handle things down here?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good. I'll probably turn in after I get done talking to him, so good night, I guess."  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Ryan lowered himself into the fresh hot bath and sighed with relief at the temperature of the water. He closed his eyes and lapsed into thought.  
  
'Goddamn him!' Ryan thought. 'That...that son of bitch...I should've fought him a long time ago! Oh...I would just love to beat the livin' crap outta him...'  
  
He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. 'Anna-chan didn't deserve to be yelled at, though. I should have kept my cool with her, even though she doesn't understand what I've had to live through.'  
  
"Gomen nasai, Anna-chan," Ryan said aloud.  
  
He closed his eyes again.  
  
Knock, knock, knock.  
  
"Who is it?!" Ryan snapped.  
  
"It's me," came Anna's voice.  
  
Ryan mentally slapped himself, caught up in his own thoughts as he was. He paused to consider whether to let her in.  
  
"Come in. Lock it behind you."  
  
The door was opened and Anna slowly walked in. "Hey."  
  
"Hey."  
  
Ryan still kept his eyes closed and tilted his head back.  
  
"What's wrong?" Anna asked.  
  
"Family problems."  
  
There were a few seconds of silence.  
  
"Can I join you?" Anna asked. "That is, if you don't mind."  
  
Ryan cracked open one eye. She looked sympathetic. Ryan shrugged and motioned her to come in. "Sure. If you can find the room."  
  
Anna started to undress, but suddenly stopped. A single tear welled up in one eye. Ryan knew that she had never fully recovered from the events back in Dr. Vickers' final lab. She had developed a phobia of undressing in front of anyone, even Ryan.  
  
"Anna," Ryan said, "you don't have to if it still brings back the memories."  
  
"No," she declared, her voice shaky. "If I can't sleep with you, or even undress in front of you now, then how can I later? No, I've got to get over this..."  
  
She continued to remove her clothes, trying to hold back the memories and the tears. When she was done, she simply stood there, hiding her face. Just as Ryan was about to say something, she stepped in the bathtub and found a place in front of him. Ryan clasped his arms around her just over her big stomach, and they stayed like that until Anna calmed down a few minutes later. He noticed that all of her bruises and most of her cuts had healed. Obviously, the emotional damage was far from cured.  
  
"I know that you wouldn't hurt me," Anna said. "But...I just can't stop it...I can't block the memories..."  
  
"I'm here for you, neh? Nothing bad is gonna happen."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Jeez," Ryan commented in a way to break the tension. "You've gotten heavier in the last few months."  
  
To his relief, she agreed, her voice no longer shaky.  
  
"Well, I'm eight months along," Anna said, then splashing a bit of water into his face, she said, smiling, "And watch what you say, next time. I may not be as merciful."  
  
Ryan chuckled. "Very well. I'm sorry, mein Capitan."  
  
Anna's smile deepened at his sarcasm. "That's much better."  
  
Ryan lay back against the tub, with Anna leaning into his shoulder. After a long silence, Anna turned her head.  
  
"Ryan-kun?"  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"What happened out there?"  
  
Ryan paused. "I...I joined the guys outside. I sat next to your father, and lit a cigarette--"  
  
"You should go back on the patch again."  
  
"I'm workin' on it. Anyway, my father told me to put out my cigarette, and I just suddenly exploded at him with all this stored-up hatred I have against him." Ryan's voice cracked a little. "It was scary. A whole bunch of things that I remembered, and some that I had forgotten, just resurfaced, and...I wanted to kill him, Anna. I wanted to actually kill him for all that he had done. Kill him with my bare hands. My own father..."  
  
Anna brushed his face with her palm. "It's okay. While my own experiences can't compare to what he did to you, it was good that you let your feelings out. Otherwise, it would have eaten you out from the inside. If you were to try to kill him, I would jump in and stop you, and you know that."  
  
"Yeah, that's one reason that I despise myself right now. I would probably have been in such a violent rage, that if you had let me go on for just a few more seconds, I would have lost all restraint, with no concern for anyone's safety. Even if you did try, I would hurt you, and that would be breaking my promise..."  
  
Anna didn't have a response. She just simply snuggled up closer to him.  
  
"I...I won't let anything bad happen to you, Anna...or our children...I still keep that promise in check...I still want your love..."  
  
"You still have it, and you always will."  
  
Ryan grinned as a quotation popped into his head.  
  
"'Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.' C. Nestell Bovee."  
  
"'Take love away from life, and you take away its pleasures.' Molière." responded Anna.  
  
"Ow...good one...uh...let me think here...Ah! 'Alas! The love of women! It is known to be truly a lovely and fearful thing.' Lord Byron."  
  
Anna seemed to rack her brain for another quote, and while she was thinking, Ryan had another saying ready: "'I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my little child.' Rabindranath Tagore."  
  
"'It is dangerous to confuse children with angels.' David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe."  
  
Ryan thought, but nothing came to mind that could beat that.  
  
"'Men and women call one another inconstant, and accuse one another of having changed their minds, when, God knows, they have but changed the object of their eye, and have seen a better white or red.' John Donne."  
  
"Okay. You got me there."  
  
Anna chuckled.  
  
"I was surprised that you even knew that many. I thought you didn't pay any attention in that Logic and Theory class."  
  
Ryan shrugged. "I opened my ears once in awhile."  
  
Anna turned her head to face him. "Can you promise me that you'll talk to him?"  
  
"Fine. I'll talk to him, but I can't promise you anything."  
  
"Ah!" Anna exclaimed as she held her stomach, giggling. "They're kicking! They've been doing that a lot lately."  
  
"Well, you're due in a few weeks. I bet they're just dying to come out."  
  
Anna paused for a moment.  
  
[You bet we are,] they both heard Adrian say.  
  
They both looked over to the side of the tub and saw Adrian standing there, smiling. Ryan and Anna scrambled to cover themselves.  
  
"Go away!" Ryan said, restraining his voice. "Now!"  
  
[Oh, come on. You don't have to be embarrassed.]  
  
"Adrian!" Anna said. "Please! Go!"  
  
[Okay, sheesh!]  
  
Once Adrian faded from view, they both closed their eyes and once again relaxed in the warmth of the water.  
  
"You know," Ryan said, "we should take a bath while this opportunity presents itself."  
  
"Okay, but I go first."  
  
Ryan smiled jauntily. "Fine with me," he said.  
  
Ryan reached for the shampoo bottle. He wetted Anna's hair, squirted shampoo on his hand, and then gently yet with just the right firmness scrubbed her hair. Anna closed her eyes and let Ryan's fingers massage the worry out of her day.  
  
"I was hoping you would say that," she breathed, stretching like a cat.  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
  
  
A few days later...  
  
  
  
LAX airport was always busy, but the Chicago flight seemed especially so to Ryan and Anna.  
  
Anna and Ryan stood in front of their respective families, saying their good-byes. When they had finished with their own kin, they went to the other family and did the same.  
  
"You know," Sara commented to Anna. "I've only known you for about a week, but I already know that you're a great person. Ryan's got himself a really good girl -- no, woman. Watch my little bro for me, okay?"  
  
"Yes," Elizabeth agreed. "You're a wonderful woman, Anna Yamaguchi. I'm sure that you must make Ryan very happy. Promise me that you'll treat him right."  
  
Anna nodded.  
  
"Anna..." said Peter. "My...my views are the same as those of my family, so, I just must ask you one favor."  
  
"Sure. What is it?"  
  
Ryan's father paused for a moment, scratching his head.  
  
"After you're in the air...tell Ryan...that I'm really sorry for what I did to him these past few years, and that no matter what he does...I'm proud of him."  
  
Judging by the look of relief on his face, Anna could tell that Peter found it hard to say things like this.  
  
Anna smiled. "I'll be sure to pass along that message."  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Ryan stared at Anna's family, not really knowing what to say.  
  
"Can you speak, Raian-san?" Koiko asked.  
  
"I...gomen nasai, Koiko-sama. I...just don't really know how to start."  
  
"How many-eh times do I tell you? Call me Okaa-san," Koiko said. "I will miss you, Raian-san. You very kind these past days. You even show signs you turning Japanese!"  
  
Ryan chuckled nervously.  
  
"Ryan-san," said Masahiro. "You have shown to be deserving of my sister's love, and thus, my acceptance. She has someone who can protect her with his life now. Someone I can trust. I will deeply regret our parting for the time being. Until we meet again?"  
  
"Hai, Masa-sama. Mata o-ai-suru hi made."  
  
Masahiro and Ryan bowed deeply, and Yasunori was next to speak.  
  
"Ryan," he said. "As Masa-san has said, you have been proven to be deserving of my acceptance. Therefore, I hereby recognize you as my future son-in-law. I know that we will meet again. Until then."  
  
Ryan's face colored deeply as the family bowed to him, which he had to politely return with most probably the deepest bow in his entire life.  
  
'He gave me permission for marriage?!' Ryan thought. 'Jesus! We thought we'd wait until we were at least 25...'  
  
"Yasunori-sama," Ryan said, his head still bowed, feeling deeply embarrassed. He tried to sound as Japanese as possible in his next sentence. "Watashiwa kono yo na meiyo o ukeru shkiaku wa arimasen."  
  
"Do ita shimashite, Raian-san," replied Yasunori.  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Ryan and Anna, with their carry-on luggage dangling from Ryan's hands, strolled up to the walkway that led to the plane, then turned around once more and bowed. Anna's family bowed back, and Ryan's family waved.  
  
After a struggle to get to their seats through the aisle traffic, they were finally buckling their seat straps. After a few minutes there was the sudden jolt, then the smooth disconnection from the earth and the accompanying tingling feeling in the stomach that was take-off.  
  
Once they were safely five-thousand feet in the air, Anna decided to tell Ryan what his father told her.  
  
"Hey, Ryan-kun."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Your father wanted me to pass this message on to you: 'I'm sorry for what I've done to you in the past few years, and I'll always be proud of you.'"  
  
Ryan's expression remained firm, but Anna could sense surprise and maybe even regret behind his face. Sensing this, she linked her hand with his.  
  
"It'll be okay," she reassured him. "You'll get along with him some day, I just know it."  
  
Ryan looked out the port window for a moment.  
  
"I know that our lives will be filled with hardships," Ryan said as he turned back to Anna. "But I know that our family will make it, and do just great. I just know it."  
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
  
  
Four years later, December 18, 2006...  
  
  
  
Ryan stood over a large blue duffel bag, stuffing in spare changes of clothing and a little food, along with ammo and his guns. He had just managed to place his Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun in it by twisting off its barrel. He and Anna had been living in an apartment building near the campus of the University of Chicago, where they were currently attending college.  
  
"What are you doing?" A familiar female voice came from behind him. "What's with all the guns? How did you manage to get them?"  
  
Without looking up from his work, Ryan replied. "I had them stored away."  
  
"And what are you doing with them?"  
  
Ryan turned around to face the voice. Anna stood there, looking stern with her hands were on her hips, but her tone giving away her worry.  
  
"Umbrella. It's time to end all of this."  
  
"What?!" Anna exclaimed. "What do you mean?! We have a family now, Ryan! We can't go back into this!"  
  
"I have no choice. I have to be there. The others are preparing for the final blow to the jugular."  
  
"Of course you have a choice! You can stay home with us! And what about your studies?"  
  
"It's winter break, in case you haven't noticed."  
  
"Please Ryan-kun, just don't do this!"  
  
"Like I said, I have no choice. They need all the help they can get. If we can get this last lab, then we can turn up all the evidence we need against Umbrella! And with all the funds they'll lose, and have lost, they won't be able to cover this one up!"  
  
"But...what if you die, huh? Then what? What do I tell our kids?"  
  
"Then I died as a martyr for the right cause."  
  
"How can you say that?!"  
  
"Have you heard the saying, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'?"  
  
"Even if it's for your own family?"  
  
"It is for our family! If Umbrella isn't destroyed, they'll eventually come after us, and if not us, then our children. If not them, then their children. They know what we are, Anna."  
  
Anna didn't respond.  
  
"Look, we've been out of action since right after the kids were born," Ryan said. "That's like, what, four years? They've done so much for us. It's time we repay the favor. Besides, we both have our own reasons to destroy Umbrella."  
  
"So this is some sort of revenge for what they did to us?"  
  
"That's part of it, yes. BUT, the main reasons are that I'm doing this for everyone on this planet, and I want to make us a place in the world. After that stunt that you pulled at the hospital four years ago--"  
  
"A stunt that saved your life, I might add," Anna interrupted.  
  
Ryan continued on as if nothing had happened. "--the whole world has known who, and most importantly, what we are."  
  
Ryan paused to let the words sink in. When he continued, his voice had a slight edge to it.  
  
"Have you walked down the street lately?" he said. "Have you seen the looks our children get? The looks we get? Have you seen people curve out of our way? Run from us? With the exception of our friends, everyone looks at us like we're some sort of monsters! Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about; you've felt it, too. If we can show the world that we can do good, that we're not out to kill everyone, I'm sure they'll accept us."  
  
"I...I just wish that Umbrella hadn't interfered with our lives. We've seen and experienced things that no one ever should."  
  
"Hold on a second there," Ryan said sternly. "True, we've seen some pretty nasty stuff, but think about it. If I had gone with my parents into hiding, or if you didn't decide to become a Seraph, if Chris hadn't convinced everyone that we should go to Carlton to get away from Umbrella, then we wouldn't have met, and therefore, we wouldn't be blessed with Adrian and Nozomi."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I'm leaving, and that's final."  
  
"Do you want me to give you another reason to stay?"  
  
"Sure, but unless you're going to die of a disease or something," Ryan said as he turned for the door, "I'm still going."  
  
"I can't give you one. Just...Dozo, Ryan-kun...I want to be there with you."  
  
Ryan paused for a long time, debating. Taking a deep breath, he responded. "I...I...still...can't stay. Sorry...Anna-chan..."  
  
Ryan continued in his walk for the door.  
  
"Wait, Ryan-kun!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"If you're going to go off and probably get yourself killed," Anna said, "then at least take me with you."  
  
"What?! Hell, no!"  
  
"If you're going to be in danger, then I want to be there with you."  
  
"I don't want anything to happen to you!"  
  
"I can take care of myself."  
  
"Still--"  
  
"Shut up, Davidson. I'm coming whether you like it or not. I hope you still have that Colt .45 of mine."  
  
"What about the kids?"  
  
"I guess we'll have to take them with us."  
  
"WHAT! Do you know what you're saying?!"  
  
"Yes, I do, but it would be the same risk if we left them with one of our relatives. This way, we don't place others of our families in danger, and we can at least protect the twins ourselves."  
  
Ryan paused and looked deep into her eyes. Finally, sighing, he went on. "Okay, what about target practice? I've been going to the ranges, but you haven't."  
  
"Oh, yes I have."  
  
"Otoo-san! Okaa-san!" came the voice of Nozomi from down the hall.  
  
The next moment later, their children came barging through the doorway, big smiles on their faces. They leaped into their parents' arms, Nozomi into Ryan's, and Adrian into Anna's.  
  
"Where you goin'?" Adrian asked.  
  
"...Uh...we're...we're going on a vacation for awhile."  
  
"So go pack up your things, okay?" Anna said.  
  
"Hai!" they both called out cheerfully, running for their rooms, laughing all the way.  
  
"One thing that I just don't want to do is tell them what they really are..." Ryan said mournfully. "Like us, they're Seraphs, whether they like it or not. Every day when they're near me, I can sense their Seraph powers starting to grow. At this rate, they'll probably be able to use their abilities by the time they're eight."  
  
Anna embraced him around his waist from behind and spoke in his ear softly. "It'll be okay, you'll see."  
  
Ryan clasped his hands over hers. "Our children..." Ryan mused. "The children of the Seraphs..."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
And so, the threat of complete Seraphication of the human race and the slaughter of millions of people was avoided thanks not only to the labors of Leon Kennedy, Claire and Chris Redfield, and Sherry Birkin, but also to the efforts of the infamous Seraphs, Ryan Joseph Davidson and Anna Yamaguchi.  
  
Though they didn't exactly live normal lives until Umbrella was brought to justice, they did have good times. The day that Umbrella was taken down, marked a new meaning of celebration to the brave souls that dared to risk their lives for the future of the human race, and for those that suffered at the hands of the corporate giant. Even though it took the world a few years to realize what Umbrella really was, and who was responsible for its destruction, they were eventually given recognition for what they did. They will forever live in the annals of history.  
  
  
  
  
  
Fin  
  
  
  
  
  
Damn...43 pages of RTF format...forget about chapter eight of The Seraphs. This is the largest document I have ever written.  
  
  
  
Author's note: I live by the motto that without his/her editors a writer is just some crazed lunatic typing/writing out incoherent phrases, putting them together in a jumble, and then call it 'writing.' So, my biggest thanks go out to my editors. F. Buckley for being there since day one, helping me all the way. Mayumi_H, for her absolute wonderful copyediting and Japanese translations. Catalina for beta reading, the art, and finding all those little mistakes that make a difference. Red_Kat 9 for the beta reading and moral support. Sorry I could never fix that spacing problem until late : ).  
  
  
  
  
  
Draft: 7/19/01 (12:37AM)  
  
Final: 9/19/02 (4:32PM)  
  
Ja matta ne! 


End file.
